Skyworld as Seen Through a Child's Mind
by Giddysky
Summary: A collection of short stories all connected in some way or another! Starring two trouble-making Angel twin brothers and various other prominent characters, who I would add to the character list if I could! Anyways, who knows what'll happen next! I do!
1. Pit and Pittoo hang out with two animals

_**In which Pit and Pittoo hang out with two animals.**_

* * *

_**-its like ripping off a band-aid-**_

It was another normal night for the residents of the giant floating temple in the skies. Palutena, the goddess of light rested in her private quarters. Pit, her loyal captain of the guard slept in his unusually large room, and the centurion army who were supposed to be taking shifts guarding the temple all slept peacefully in their barracks.

This was the land known as, Skyworld.

Sometimes called Angel Land but that doesn't matter right now.

What does matter is that it had been a long seven years since a large catastrophic event had shaken it to its very core. Leaving it a shadow of its heavenly former self. It had taken the Goddess Palutena, her captain; Pit, and hundreds of Centurions quite a while to fix it up. It finally seemed to be back to its old state. Sure, there were lazily put up columns by Palutena herself that fell once in a while, but what mattered is that it **looked** good.

Or at least good enough to pretend nothing of note had happened.

While there were _some_ areas of Skyworld that would never truly recover, Palutena held firm that given enough time and carefulness as to not break anything else. Skyworld would be back to 100% in no tim-

**CRASH!**

...oh dear.

* * *

_**-Pittoo crashes the party-**_

A large crash sounded deep within Palutena's temple, the source coming from within Pit's private quarters. There amidst shards of broken glass and hidden by the darkness of the room was the culprit himself, Dark Pit.

Thankfully for him he seemed to be relatively unharmed. Unlike the window he had just crashed through.

"Hey Pittoo!" Viridi yelled at the unmoving body of Dark Pit. "Hey! Dark! Pit! I'm not paying you to nap on the ground! You've got a job to do! So get up and get going!"

Dark pit, of course was fine.

It was just fun for him to push Viridi's buttons like that. However, once Viridis voice raised above two octaves of her normal voice he knew it was time to get up.

"I think now is an appropriate time to remind you that I don't work for you." Dark Pit, newest member of the Forces of Nature said lifting himself up from lying on Pit's rainbow rug.

Viridi scoffed, "Oh? Well then I must have missed the memo where; living in my domain, eating my food, and having me grant you the power of flight **DOESNT COUNT AS WORKING FOR ME!**" Dark Pit could practically hear her stomping her foot in anger. He must have really upset her now.

"Okay." Viridi sighed, "We can sort this out later. Right now we need to focus on the mission. I know I briefed you on it before you left, but I KNOW you weren't listening so listen up!" Dark Pit rolled his eyes and in fact did not listen up. Instead he looked over to one of the walls in Pit's room in a vain attempt to tune Viridi out. It didn't do much to lift his mood since the wall was decorated in childish drawings of the Goddess of Light herself. Most likely drawn by Pit.

No, most definitely drawn by Pit.

He visibly grimaced. Unknowingly letting Viridi know that he wasn't listening at all. "H-Hey?! Have you been listening to anything I've said?!" She said slamming her staff down. Dark Pit could swear he could have heard it even without the telepathy.

"Nope." Sometimes it was the simplest answer that set her off. "Why? Did you say something important?"

"**YOU LITTLE-**" Viridi let out a loud groan, it might have well been a signature of hers by now. "OKAY. Let's try this, **AGAIN.**" Dark Pit made sure to listen to at least half of the instructions this time. The less time he had to spend here the better after all.

Especially now that he noticed the collection of hand sown Palutena dolls eyeing him from the corner of the room.

_Brrrrrr..._

* * *

_**-tactical Pittoo espionage-**_

"Get in. Take back Phos, Lux and the Lightning Chariot without letting Palutena, Pit, or the Centurions find out. Get out. Simple as that!"

Disregarding the fact that NONE of that sounded simple, Dark Pit absolutely hated taking orders from anyone. And taking orders from a God was absolutely infuriating. If it weren't for the fact that Viridi and him had a similar goal in mind he would rather been dead then be where he was right now.

"Simple as that~" he repeated condescendingly to no one but himself. At least Viridi trusted him enough to let him do the job without her help. Or maybe she was just tired? It was 5 in the morning after all.

Stepping outside of the main temple Pittoo couldn't help thinking if she was just tired of dealing with him. Ideally that would have been the best scenario for him. Have a Goddess that gave him the Power of Flight whenever he wanted, and she would leave him alone and let him do whatever he wanted. It kinda stung though, being ignored. Even if he knew it didn't make any sense for him to feel that way.

Wait. No. No it didn't. Nuh-uh!

Shaking his head, Dark Pit wandered into what seemed to be a courtyard. Still thinking to himself, he knew he shouldn't have taken this mission from Viridi so easily.

All it had taken was for Viridi to approach him during dinner and hold his dessert hostage until he agreed to go. Though really, what did he expect from a Goddess, for them to play fair? He knew he had to be smarter than them, he couldn't risk turning into a puppet like Pit was. Always ready to serve his goddess at the drop of her stupid silly tacky crown...thing?

Approaching what seemed to be a stable, he decided that once he got back to Viridi's domain he would totally just refuse to talk with her. That'll show her.

He didn't get a chance to think of what exactly it would show her because as soon as he opened the stable doors there as planned was both Phos and Lux.

What he didn't expect to see was his twin, Pit with a basket full of sandwiches.

* * *

_**-are phos and lux horses or unicorns? easy answer; both-**_

"Hey Pittoo!" Pit said waving and dropping his basket of meticulously made little sandwiches. "Opps."

"Puppit." Dark Pit said crossing his arms. The mission had just become a bust, but he couldn't let Pit know that. Pit pouted, picking up the sandwiches he'd so carelessly dropped, "Could you quit calling me that? It's getting really annoying."

"Only if you stop calling me Pittoo."

"But that's your nickname!" Pit answered back with a smile on his face.

"Then there's your answer." Dark Pit eyed the basket where Pit was tossing the now completely ruined sandwiches.

Any reasonable person would have asked the other reasonable person why there were out in a stable at five in the morning with a basket of sandwiches, and why they had decided the best thing to do when dropping said sandwiches was to pick them back up.

But we're talking about Pit and Dark Pit here let's be reasonable.

"So? Any reason why you're not just eating those sandwiches off the ground?" he kicked a sandwich that had landed near his feet over to Pit, along with some dirt. "Viridi told me you're some sort of floor food eating vulture, right?".

It was true that he didn't often listen to her but when it came to info about his twin, he was all ears.

Pit angrily snatched it away and whispered under his breath "I don't eat food off the floor that often..." He picked up the last dirt sandwich and turned to Phos and Lux who Dark Pit had all but forgotten about, ironically.

"And for your information, these aren't all for me!"

* * *

_**-even spiker hair if you can believe it-**_

Dark Pit witnessed Pit light up as he led Phos and Lux outside. Overcome with excitement he hugged Phos' neck and nuzzled it. Pit's hair immediately spiked up from the electricity coursing through his body as both Phos' and Lux nuzzled him back.

He also dropped his basket of sandwiches.

Again.

* * *

_**-based on something I /don't /do with my dog-**_

Pit placed the basket filled with what now resembled a tossed salad with bread and turkey ham thrown in on a picnic table. "Here Pittoo, you can sit next to me!" he yelled.

Dark Pit looked over from his brooding position beneath a tree to see his twin calling him over to sit from a picnic area that he deduced was put up only recently given what happened to Skyworld just a few years ago.

Deciding that the mission was a bust and that Viridi wasn't going to answer his calls anytime soon, he thought about the pros and cons of accepting an invitation from Pit to sit next to him.

Though, that was before he saw Pit take a chunk of the sandwich salad hand it over to both Phos and Lux who bit into it then take a bite out of it himself.

Over and over. Pit couldn't for the life of him figure out why Pittoo suddenly looked so excited to sit down next to him.

Or why he was laughing so hard.

* * *

_**-taboo "fo...**__**two of a kind"-**_

Pit took a bite of the last piece of bread he had just handed over to Lux and sighed, "You know Pittoo, I wish I could spend more time relaxing here." Dark Pit paused a chuckle to answer him, "Then just do that."

Pit gulped, " I-I would...but I have to report to Lady Palutena in an hour. Then I have to help with breakfast. Then I have to clean around the temple. Then-" Dark Pit had heard enough and interrupted him, "Okay! I got it! Geez Puppit."

He had it worse than Pittoo thought.

"It's not like I mind doing all that for Lady Palutena! Serving her gives my life purpose!"

"Sounds like something a mindless puppet would say"

Pit shot a glare at Dark Pit. He knew deep down that Pittoo didn't mean those things, he was just saying that to mess with him. And it worked. Every time.

He conceded, placing the nearly empty basket on the grass. Pit stood up and leaned on Lux, his hair spiking up again but not nearly as bad as before. "You know what would make things so much easier? If there were two of me." he said answering his own ironic question.

What followed was a minute of silence, save for the munching of the leftover lettuce being eaten by Phos and Lux.

"...Oh! Wait a min-!"

"Not on our lives."

* * *

_**-up in the air without a saddle-**_

Pit and Dark Pit watched from the bench as Phos and Lux flew by for what must have been the 10th time.

"So, they can just do that?" Dark Pit said pointing as Lux tapped the air where he was floating, a habit carried over from being on the ground most likely. Pit swayed back and forth for no clear reason Dark Pit could come up with "I guess? The first time I let them out without the Lightning Chariot they took off the first chance they got."

He turned to Dark Pit laughing "At first I got really scared they had run away I asked Lady Palutena to grant me the Power of Flight so I could chase after them!" He blushed, "But turns out they just really like to run around! So I made her worried for nothing! Ha ha..."

Dark Pit thought to himself, had they gotten to fly around back in Viridi's place? He honestly couldn't remember.

He'd hate to be forcibly grounded. You know if he could fly.

Suddenly he had an idea. "Psst. Hey Pit." he said elbowing him. Pit turned to him " Wha-?"

"Have you ever tried riding one of them? You know like humans do?" Pittoo said, getting straight to the point. Pit eyes lit up and he yelled for Phos asking very nicely for him to come down. Phos landed as instructed with Lux curiously following behind them.

"Thanks you guys! So, me and Pittoo-"

"Dark. Pit."

Pit blissfully continued, "-were wondering if we could ride on you! You know like on your back?" Phos and Lux faced each other, as if to ask _themselves_ whether they could or not.

It's not like they knew what Pit and Pittoo were talking about either, all they were use to was pulling chariots. Or at least that's all they could remember doing. Eventually Phos and Lux both turned to face the angels and Pit and Pittoo took that as a sign they could go ahead and hop on.

"Alright!" the clueless angels said in unison, both jumping onto their respective unicorns. And with no knowledge on how to ride a horse they both literally jumped on. Feet landing and everything.

Unfortunately for them, there was a reason that neither Phos or Lux were used to having any being ride on their backs.

Because no one was stupid enough to surprise unicorns that both generated a great unknown amount of electricity.

As soon as Pit and Pittoo made contact with Phos and Lux both unicorns became startled at the sudden action and activated their defense mechanisms. Which was about 60 or so volts of electricity. As a result, both Pit and Pittoo were shocked and propelled away.

Pittoo landing on the table and Pit hitting a large tree.

Both paralyzed and one bitterly disappointed that the plan had failed, another sad that he still hadn't invested in rubber sandals. Phos and Lux walked over to where the angels had landed and checked as well as two unicorns could that they were both still alive.

Pittoo could even swear that they both looked a little guilty over this whole mess.

"Ow." Was all Pittoo could muster saying.

Pit had blacked out shortly after.

* * *

_**\- (pit voice) neigh-**_

Pit had woken up after about seven minutes of Dark Pit yelling at him that he couldn't die because it would be incredibly embarrassing if they both died like this. But now he was longing for the peace and quiet of seven minutes ago becau-

"Neeeiigh~ I'm sorry Pit and Pittoo we didn't mean to shock you and throw you into a bench and treeeeee! "

...Because now this was happening.

Pit ran over to where Pittoo was sitting " It's okay Phos and Lux! We're sorry for trying to use you two to fly!"

"I'm not."

Pit ignored him and continued. "Can you ever forgive us?!" He moved over to where Lux was and gently grasped his mouth, "OooooOOoof course Pit and PittoooOOo! Let's just be friends agaaaAAAaaaain!"

"I cannot believe you're doing this."

He could have sworn Phos and Lux stared at him as if they were asking him why Pit was doing this, not like Dark Pit could answer that. Or help them.

* * *

_**-it's like duck hunt...but with unicorns-**_

While Pittoo couldn't fly on Phos and Lux he could do the next best thing, target practice!

"HE WHAT?!" Pit yelled springing up from sitting on the grass to where Pittoo stood with his Dark Pit Staff at the ready. "Pittoo you can't shoot at Phos and Lux! That's mean even for you!"

Dark Pit found himself being grabbed by the arm by Pit who was desperately trying to get him to put his Staff down. "I-I'm not gonna shoot the unicorns you dolt! I gave them things to throw in the air!"

Pit squeaked in surprise, as he tended to do.,"O-Oh! Yeah...Yeah! I knew that! Obviously!" he said trying his best to lie. "Sure you did." Pittoo huffed in annoyance.

Pit happily let go of Dark Pit's arm and hopped onto the picnic table, "Glad you agree!"

He was insufferable sometimes.

* * *

_**-hide n seek goes as well as lux hiding behind a tree and pittoo hiding behind lux-**_

It wasn't often that Dark Pit wished for the help of anyone, let alone a goddess. But when Pit had suggested that all four of them play some sort of game Dark Pit really wished Viridi would wonder why he was taking so long on this simple mission and finally check up on him.

Wow, he thought, she really didn't care about him.

Meanwhile Pit had brainstormed, as hard as he storm up in there, several game ideas that he thought that Pittoo would enjoy.

"Tag!"

"Pretty sure Phos and Lux would run us over and kill us both. Oh, also they can fly."

"Jump Rope?"

"I'm pretty sure unicorns don't jump"

"Hide and Seek?!"

"You're my 'mirror' twin remember? We'd both know where the other would hide!"

Ignoring Dark Pit's last remark Pit had declared that the game they would play would be Hide and Seek. He had declared it with so much confidence it almost seemed like he had something to prove.

He also decided that Pittoo and Lux now had the monumental task of finding both Phos and himself. A task that would begin shortly after Dark Pit convinced Pit that Lux in fact did not have to count to ten along with Dark Pit. Closing their eyes would be enough.

"8...9...10! Doesn't matter if you're ready or not cause here I come!"

Much to Pittoo's unsurprise there was Phos hiding as well as they could behind the large tree that had knocked Pit out just a few moments ago, just a few feet away from them. Dark Pit sighed, he forgot to consider the fact that neither Phos or Lux probably knew how Hide and Seek worked let alone what it was.

Though he could have sworn Lux also had a look of disappointment on his face.

That wasn't the end of it, because from behind of Phos there came the soft sound of someone trying their hardest not to giggle. Dark Pit bent down to get a closer look, from what he could tell Pit had had the bright idea of hiding behind Phos who was hiding behind a tree.

The worst part was that Dark Pit felt he would have probably don't the same thing. Only much smarter.

Duh.

* * *

_**-weight of the world-**_

Pittoo looked over at Pit who was busy brushing Phos and Lux's mane as best he could. Every once in a while he kept exclaiming a small "Ow!". He was probably brushing too hard and making them mad, Pit probably wasn't that used to taking care of two magical electric unicorns after all.

Which brought him to...

He leaned down on the picnic table. "So? Viridi told me you got these guys from some guy called The Chariot Master? What was he like? Was he like, evil?" Dark Pit noticed that Pit had stopped brushing for a second, like he was actually thinking about something.

It didn't take long though for Pit to continue brushing not missing a beat. Not even turning to face Dark Pit he answered, "Sorry. Never heard of him."

* * *

_**-blue streaks speed by-**_

Despite being flying unicorns Phos and Lux seemed to enjoy running on dry land as much as they did streaking across the sky.

The pair were both restless after being forced to stand in place for Pit's brushing, which they appreciated but he definitely needed more practice. Unfortunately for everyone involved Phos and Lux were just as fast on the ground as they were in the sky when they tried. The angels found this out the hard way, when in the middle of a conversation about the tastiest frosting a sudden gust of blue wind swept them off their feet and several feet into the air.

"What was that?!" Pittoo screamed spreading his wings in an attempt to slow his rapid descent. His twin, too busy screaming his lungs out had no response for him.

Well he did have a response it's just that the answer "AHHHHH!" wasn't exactly the answer Pittoo wanted.

Dark Pit groaned for what might have been the sixth time that morning. "Just spread your wings your dipstick!" Pit didn't waste a second and listened to Dark Pit's suggestion just in time to spare himself from another painful hit to the noggin.

Pit had hit the ground much sooner than Dark Pit due to free falling longer and once Pittoo hit the ground he repeated his earlier pressing question.

"What _was_ that?!"

This time the answer though came in the shape of both Phos and Lux coming to a sudden stop in front of the brothers. A sudden stop that covered both Pits in mud and whatever else the unicorns had galloped over.

"Oh. Ha. Ha."

It didn't take long for the pair to notice that Phos and Lux were also filthy, but unlike them the dirt was pretty much only located near their legs.

"Lucky jerks." Pittoo muttered under his breath

Pit, ever the problem solver exclaimed, "Don't worry you guys! All we have to do is go to Skyworld's biggest Hot Springs and clean up! It'll be fun!" He ran off urging Phos and Lux to follow him. Pittoo sighed and followed, its not like he had much of a say in this.

And it killed him knowing that.

* * *

_**-horrifying revelations-**_

Dark Pit stared ahead in horror and anger.

Pit stared at the ground in shock and bashfulness.

They had fallen behind of Phos and Lux and were worried they would get lost trying to find their way to the Hot Springs by themselves. But they had gone the right way. All thanks to handy directional signs that Palutena had put up for her Centurions.

Signs that were written in the Skyworld language.

The horrifying truth Pit and Pittoo had to accept was that both Phos and Lux could read.

* * *

_**-taking a light dip-**_

A genuine moment of peace and quiet was rare for the Goddess of Light. Most of her day was spent ordering the centurions around, doing her duty of watching over humans, and taking care of Pit. As much as she loved all three of those, she always made sure to make some time for herself.

And if it took getting up at six in the morning to get into a mostly empty hot spring, then she was willing to make that sacrifice. She set her towel down and untied her hair. Then, Palutena still in her pajamas (please remember this crucial fact) got ready to finally take a dip in Skyworld's famous Hot Springs.

Then the doors to the Hot Springs slammed open and two electrical horses with two mud covered angels ran in.

Thankfully for her none of them had made it anywhere near the water before she was able to stop them in their tracks.

By screaming at the top of her lungs.

* * *

_**-you can lead a horse to a hot spring but...-**_

After they had all calmed down Pit tried to explain the situation but became too busy in apologizing to Palutena that he couldn't finish, and Dark Pit had to take over.

"-So then Pitstain here thought it was a good idea to clean up in the hot springs." he explained. "And you agreed with him?" Palutena said eyeing Dark Pit with a grin. "Of course not! I just thought it'd be funny." Pittoo said pouting.

Before she even got to ask how he knew that she was in here Pit chimed in again, standing in between her and Dark Pit. "I'm so **so** sorry Lady Palutena! I'll accept any punishment you give me! I-I'll even clean the kitchen!"

Palutena couldn't help but chuckle, "Pit! Don't get so worked up about it! I'm not going to make you clean the kitchen!" He looked up, eyes filled with newly found hope, "Re-Really...?"

She clapped her hands together, "You can clean the Hot Springs as punishment!"

Pit stood up and nodded sadly. "Of course Lady Palutena." She eyed the tracks of mud Phos and Lux had tracked inside and made a mental note to have Pit clean those as well. But first...

"You should find some other way to get cleaned up you two! One that doesn't involve filling the Hot Spring with mud." Pit nodded, silently agreeing with her. Dark Pit scoffed, and Phos and Lux were unicorns.

She waved her hand and materialized her staff. "Try the little fountains of water outside! Pit loved bathing in those when he was small!" Before Pit could even be embarrassed about what Palutena had just said all four found themselves engulfed in light and standing right outside the entrance to the Hot Springs.

"Well that sure happened." Pit said already doing his best to forget the last 5 minutes. "Let's...Let's just find some other place to clean up guys." he ran off without another word, both Phos and Lux slowly following him. All the while Dark Pit wanted nothing more than go back inside to tell Palutena off and to yell at Pit for accepting his punishment so easily, but he was just so tired he didn't think it was worth it.

* * *

_**-and now, an excerpt from the perspective of Phos and Lux.-**_

neigh neigh neigh neigh. neighneighneighneighneighneighneighneigh? neighneighneighneighneigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh

neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh! splash

neighneighneighneighneighneighneighneighneighneighneigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh

neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh! neight neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh neighneigh neigh

neigh neigh neigh.

hoof noises

another neigh. splash

whinnie

sad neigh.

* * *

_**\- the last excerpt but translated...? -**_

Phos gently splashed his hooves on the rather large puddle that Pittoo had made for them. Pit had tried to make them both a perfectly shaped puddle of water for each of them before Pittoo intervened with a, "You call that a puddle?! They'll never get clean with your help, move over!".

Then proceeded to dig and throw dirt and grass everywhere in the general vicinity in an effort to show Pit up.

To his credit he did do just that.

Over to the right of them, Phos looked over at Lux who held their head down in shame. It had been Lux's idea to run on the ground which lead to them all getting dirty. Which then lead to the Hot Spring incident.

Which now landed them here.

To be fair to Lux they wouldn't had done this where they lived before, at least that's what Phos told Lux to make them feel better.

Maybe their new Master was starting to rub off on them.

It was still strange to both just how different their lives had become in an instant. From charioting their master across the skies and serving him for who knows how long. Unicorns can't count after all.

To being whisked away to partake in a foreign war against a Goddess. Back then they were unsure of their old master's decision to give them away to some baby that got lucky and beat him at a race. Both were even a little mad at the victor who had basically killed him, even if he did give him his blessing they couldn't help but feel a little skeptical.

But the night before their first mission together Pit had snuck into their new makeshift stable and talked to them.

"I'm really sorry about the Chariot Master. I didn't...I shouldn't have...I-"

He seemed to be purposely hiding himself in the dark in an attempt to hide his facial expressions. But even from there they could tell he was holding back his emotions.

"I'm doing this to save Lady Palutena but I didn't want anyone else to get hurt! I swear! I'm just really sorry..."

He ended up repeating the same sentence about being sorry for almost half an hour.

That settled it then. They decided to give it their all. For this young warrior who was willing to put everything on the line to save the person he served. A young warrior who was currently being forcibly pushed onto a fountain by his brother.

Dark Pit, who was also willing to risk his life to save someone he cared for. An admirable trait he shared with his brother. Dark Pit would also pet them, and he gave them snacks late at night. So they decided he was nice.

Not that Dark Pit would admit it.

They liked both angels very very much. This was a sentiment they both shared. And with hooves deep in mud water not really cleaning them up at all, watching two angels try to balance on fountains. They hoped the two angels wouldn't meet the same fate as their former master.

* * *

_**-meanwhile, back at the farm-**_

Meanwhile, back at the stable, Pit had run back in to answer a question for himself. What was all the grassy stuff that was around the stable for? Did Phos and Lux eat it? He'd never even seen them take a bite out of it. Then again, he only ever saw them in the mornings and late at night.

Did it even taste good? They seemed to like the snacks he gave them a lot maybe they tasted a lot like the grass stuff does!

He took a big bite and immediately had his answer.

Phos and Lux just had terrible taste.

* * *

_**-pwos and wux (heart emoji)-**_

Dark Pit thought Pit making Phos and Lux talk was the worst it could get. But he was wrong. He was so wrong.

"Who's a gwood hworse! It's you! It's you! Isn't that wight Pwos?" Pit hugged Phos as hard as he could, which surprisingly wasn't very hard.

Laying on the grass and resting his eyes Dark Pit tried his best to ignore him, but it wasn't working.

Pit turned to Lux giving him the same affection he had given Phos but found himself feeling a lot more tired all of a sudden. "Wux...you're cwool too..." Maybe lying down would make him feel better. Though his thoughts and actions weren't in synch. Pit could feel his eyelids growing heavy. "You guys...weally are the...", he laid down on the soft grass and grew silent.

To Dark Pit's surprise Pit seemed to suddenly stop talking. He hoped deep down that Pit hadn't suddenly dropped dead.

Before it all went dark.

* * *

_**-zuzuzu-**_

It's common knowledge that every good angel needs their rest, and both Pit and Pittoo had been awake for quite a while. It's only natural for them to feel tired, especially with everything they had done in the last hour.

Without thinking they had both laid down in the grass and slowly had fallen asleep.

* * *

_**-if you even look at these angels I'll stomp you to death with my hooves-**_

Phos and Lux stood next to the sleeping angels. They had gotten used to Pit falling asleep on them when he visited. Thanks to this they had learned that he had a habit of rolling often in his sleep after an incident where he almost rolled off Skyworld during one of his naps.

Now they stood close by whenever he fell asleep on them and took it upon themselves to nudge him back to his regular position whenever he attempted to roll away.

They briefly wondered if Dark Pit had the same habit.

It didn't take long to find out he did. Just in the opposite direction.

* * *

_**-is that a promise? -**_

Dark Pit's eyes slowly fluttered open.

He sat up in a daze and had the sun hit him straight in the face. Indicating that a large amount of time had passed from now and the moment he decided to take a nap in the grass.

Groaning he finally stood up and looked down to his twin that laid beside him, still sound asleep. In front of him were Phos and Lux, keenly eyeing him. That's when Pittoo remembered. "Oh yeah. The mission."

Even if had been seen by both Pit and Palutena at this point. If he rode off on the Lightning Chariot he doubted that Pit or Palutena could catch him. Viridi could even heighten up security so Phos and Lux couldn't escape so easily this time.

He decided to go for it.

At that very moment a groggy voice spoke up from below, "Pittoo...?"

Pittoo internally and externally sighed, the new plan had ended before he had even taken a step. He looked down and to his relief Pit seemed to be in a state between sleeping and waking. So, he probably wouldn't even remember this conversation.

At least that's what Pittoo hoped.

Pit yawned. "Are you leaving so soooon...?"

"Uh. Yeah?" Pittoo unintentionally answered. Darn it. "That's okaaaayy. You can come visit tomorrow...promiseee?" Pit returned to his deep sleep and rolled to the right.

Lux gently nudged him back.

Pittoo stared at the two unicorns and sighed. The right thing to do was obvious. But it's not like he wanted to do it.

Suddenly behind him came the sound of a gentle, "Ahem."

Jumping a few inches in the air Pittoo grabbed his staff and pointed it in the general direction of the sound. There in his cross-hairs was the Goddess of Light herself.

"There's no need to point that thing all willy nilly Pittoo!" Palutena laughed. Pittoo did not lower his Staff.

She leaned over to look behind Pittoo to see a sleeping Pit "Aha! That's where he is! I was wondering why he wasn't at breakfast." Palutena walked past Pittoo completely disregarding his Staff, which greatly annoyed him "I was starting to worry Pit had died!"

He had never wished more for Viridi to teleport him away than now.

"You know Pittoo-" He tried to tune her out. "It looks like you all had a lot of fun today!" Pittoo put his staff away and tried his best to look like he was ignoring her, which he was. Palutena saw right through him and smiled. "And when I saw all. I do mean _all_." From behind Pittoo, Phos and Lux made themselves known in what Pittoo could only describe as; "happy unicorn noises"

They did both seem to be a lot happier here. Pit seemed to be happy with them too and he'd be lying to himself if he didn't admit that he didn't have at least a little bit of fun.

But just a little though.

"You don't have to say anything Pittoo. I can read what's in your heart, and I know you'll keep your promise to Pit." Palutena said smiling.

Pittoo, seconds before making a clever rebuttal about how Palutena was obviously lying, was suddenly was enveloped in a bright light and whisked away from Palutena's temple.

Ending his mission.

* * *

_**-how to break a promise-**_

**"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T GET THEM?!"**

Viridi's screams echoed throughout her temple, alerting everyone to stay far away from her today.

Pittoo shrugged. "You heard me didn't you? I got spotted and kicked out.". Viridi pulled at her hair and shouted, "You promised you wouldn't get caught! I told you a thousand times-DONT GET SPOTTED WEREN'T YOU LISTENING?!"

"Not really."

Viridi huffed around the room in a rage.

One thing.

She had assigned him to do _one thing_ and he blew it! What was she going to do with all the excess unicorn food now?!

Pittoo raised his voice, "Besides! it's not like you did anything to help! Was leaving me alone for the entire mission part of your stupid plan?!" He brought up a good point. Viridi at mission control had gone silent at what might had been the most crucial point of the mission.

Viridi froze mid stomp. "Ah...well that's-" Viridi stammered, Pittoo seeing an opportunity decided to dig at her further.

"I tried to talk to you like ten times! You didn't answer once!". He didn't mind being abandoned, but he did mind being lied to. At least that's what he told himself.

After what seemed to be well over five minutes of silence, "Well...I may have fallen asleep." Viridi finally laughed out.

"You what."

"Give me a break! It was 5 in the morning! I was tired! You said you had it handled! I was really tired!".

Pittoo couldn't help but sigh in relief. Of course if you'd asked him he'd say that it wasn't of relief, but instead annoyance. "So you got to take a nap while I was doing the real work is that it?" Pittoo turned to walk out of Viridi's control room in a huff, "Of course. What did I expect?! All you gods care about is yourselves anyway!"

"Hey! I got you out of there because I saw you were in trouble you little jerk! And this is how you thank me?!" Viridi yelled at Pittoo who had just about exited the room completely.

But only just about.

Pittoo peeked his head back into the room. "What was that?"

Viridi, who had just realized the implications of what she had said, yelled. "N-Nothing! I didn't say anything! Now get out! Get out of here!"

The door to the control room slammed shut in Pittoo's face. But he didn't mind, the potential blackmail of Viridi caring about him was consolation enough. The reminder that Phos and Lux were happy back in Skyworld was a nice bonus too.

He didn't mind breaking his _promise_ to Viridi at all, she was a Goddess. She'd get over it in a few hundred years anyway.


	2. Pit and Pittoo run around unsupervised

_**In which Pit and Pittoo run around unsupervised.**_

* * *

**-i lied palutena is home but she's busy-**

Palutena could do a lot of things. She prided herself in cooking, flying, and secret keeping. But it was only now, that as she stared into her All Seeing Eye's vision of a human village renovating a temple in her honor did she realize...

She must have a talent for redecorating too!

Palutena had so many good ideas on how the village of humans could renovate her temple. Deciding to hole herself up in her throne room she had been giving the humans vague hints and suggestions on what ideas sprung into her mind.

Which required complete and total concentration on her part.

"Lady Palutena! Pittoo is here to visit!" Pit was not that. "Pittoo come say hi!" Palutena through her sealed doors swore she could hear Pittoo's protests of "No way Puppit!" and "In your dreams!" Turning her attention away from the humans for the time being she spoke loud and clear into Pit's head, "Pit today I'm not to be disturbed whatever the problem! Okay?"

Pit soon responded, "Got it Lady Palutena! Commencing mission LEAVE LADY PALUTENA ALONE!" Sounds of receding footsteps followed by cries of objections such as "You're not even gonna ask why?!" and "Stop pulling my arm!" grew farther and farther away.

"Finally..." Palutena sighed and turned her attention back to the construction of her temple. She subtlety dropped a jar of blue paint onto a human's lap.

* * *

**-wait is this just the last chapter again? -**

After Pit's retreat and Dark Pit's sudden tour of a long hallway they found themselves in Skyworld's kitchen.

Recently renovated with fire sprinklers and a chemical shower.

Pittoo looked around while Pit sat on an adjacent counter. Ovens lined the walls and surprisingly there was only one stove top and a fridge. How did this place manage to keep everyone in Skyworld fed? Looking around he saw that the kitchen was full of vegetables, it looked like someone was getting ready to cook something just before they got here.

"What are we doing here Pitstain? Please don't tell me you're gonna cook Palutena a dumb meal." he grabbed a nearby squash and threw it at Pit.

"She sure doesn't deserve one" he whispered under his breath.

Pit kicked it back, seemingly not noticing Pittoo's last remark. "Nah! I can't cook! I just always come here whenever Lady Palutena is really busy." Pittoo fumbled and dropped the very squishy squash. Whatever.

"So? What are we doing here?" he asked as if he hadn't just dropped the figurative ball. Pit remained silent and looked upwards. He pointed up and Pittoo's eyes followed. He surely didn't expect what came next.

Above the kitchen wasn't a roof, but rows upon rows of shelves stocked with ingredients and food. Pittoo couldn't even see the actual roof, as hard as he tried.

As if it went on forever.

"S-So you come here to look at shelves of food?" he asked, trying to sound as unimpressed as he could. Pit stood up on his counter seat and pointed up as hard as he could, "It's up there Pittoo! don't you see it!?" Dark pit in fact did not see it. He squinted trying to see exactly where Pit was pointing. Following Pit's finger his eyes locked onto a jar placed carefully between two loafs of bread.

It was pretty high up.

"A jar?" he asked completely clueless as what could be so important about a jar. "It's not the jar Pittoo its what's inside the jar!" Pit jumped off the counter and stood too close for Dark Pit's comfort, "It's a jar full of chocolate chip cookies! My favorite kind!"

And predictably they were Pittoo's favorite too.

"Well what are we waiting for?! Let's get some!" Pittoo said excitedly, a smile on his face. His smile quickly faded as Pit frowned and looked up "We can't. That's Lady Palutena's foolproof _'No Pits Allowed'_ jar of cookies."

Pittoo scoffed, "What makes them so Pit proof?"

Pit sulked and sadly flapped his wings, "I don't own a ladder Pittoo."

* * *

**-jump up and your cares will soar away? -**

Pit and Pittoo's feet hit the kitchen floor again. They had been trying their hardest to jump up to the toppest shelf for some sweet chocolate chip cookies for a while now.

They decided to stop a little while after Pittoo stopped and said they both looked like idiots.

* * *

**-pit thinks bean bag chairs are filled with beans-**

With the chance of snack time and Dark Pit getting back at Palutena for existing seemingly impossible, both Pits decided to entertain themselves elsewhere.

Pit had decided to run to his room and see if there were some fun things that he was sure Pittoo would love as much as he did. He stared around his room, maybe he and Pittoo could play a couple of rounds of Ice Climber. Nah, It was a pretty slow game, so Pittoo probably wouldn't like it.

Or maybe, they could just sit on Pit's bean bag chairs and just talk? Though Pit wanted to do something, not just sit around. Oh! Maybe Pittoo would want to try hanging from Pit's hammock? Maybe not, Pit was afraid they would start fighting over who got to lay on it.

A small thought crossed his mind that he should ask Lady Palutena for more things for his room, but it was quickly forgotten about.

Pit's gaze turned to his desk. Just a few minutes before Pittoo had burst open the doors to his room and announced his arrival, Pit had been hard at work on a new work of art.

"I got it!" Pit yelled to no one but his various collections of Nintendo merchandise, and himself. Running up to his desk he grabbed his half-finished project, some extra pieces of paper, and as many pencils and paints as he could carry.

Before leaving, he turned back to his wall of past projects. He'd been trying to draw Lady Palutena for a while now and he so desperately wished she'd let him forget his past attempts. Too bad she was very insistent on keeping them up.

It really was embarrassing.

* * *

**-i ve been drawing pit since 2007 when i was 13 and i still dont draw him right-**

Pittoo meanwhile had been taking a nap on a couch in the temple's relaxation room. According to Pit it was _'One of the only places in the temple where you could hear yourself think'_.

Whatever that meant

He noticed the sound of footsteps approaching and turned to the direction of the noise. There was Pit who was messily carrying various art supplies. Pittoo sat up and asked, "Please don't tell me one of those papers has Palutena on it."

This stopped the angel dead in his tracks who halfheartedly answered, "N-No...?"

"Has anyone ever told you you're a terrible liar?"

Pit didn't bother to answer Dark Pit's question with another terrible lie and instead ran over to the coffee table in the center of the room. "Here!" he said, "I got all my best stuff here! Pencils, markers and paints you name it. I got it!" Pittoo looked over all the supplies Pit had scattered on the table, he had to admit it was a pretty impressive pile of art...stuff.

While Pittoo was busy looking Pit had sat down on the floor and already started on his next project. Another picture of Palutena, to the surprise of no one really.

"What are you drawing her for? Don't you have any other ideas Pitstain?" Dark Pit said taking a seat across from Pit. Pit looked up and embarrassingly showed Dark Pit his sketch, a very rough drawing of Palutena from the waist up. "I've been trying for years to draw a really good picture of Lady Palutena to give to her...but I don't think I've quite got it yet..."

The sketch in question was actually pretty good for someone who had been trying for who knows how many years to draw one person. Dark Pit came to the conclusion that all those Palutenas on his wall must have been his old attempts, he sort of wished he could remember what they looked like now.

Too bad he tried his very best to forget they even existed.

Dark Pit scoffed, causing Pit to turn his attention to him "Face it Puppit whatever you give Palutena she'll probably be happy with it. You could splatter paint on a piece of paper and she'd thank you."

Pit blinked, "Is that a...Is that a compliment?"

Dark Pit's eyes widened, "N-No of course not! I'm saying that Palutena would just-"

Pit jumped up in joy, "That Lady Palutena would be happy with us no matter what! Right?!"

Dark Pit stood up in defiance, "She would just take it and be nice to you so you'd keep listening to her!"

"Nope! Lady Palutena would love any present we gave her!"

The tension was building.

"Stop saying we! There's no we!"

Dark Pit could have sworn that Pit was just doing this to get on his nerves. But he'd be wrong, Pittoo had just reminded Pit that he really was just this happy to have his brother around. He was also happy being reminded that Lady Palutena loved them no matter what.

"Of course there's a 'we'! Me and you! Pit and Pittoo!"

"**That's it!**" Dark Pit grabbed a red tube of paint and squeezed it.

* * *

**-(splatoon voice) SPLAT-TOON!-**

A lone Centurion flew down the hallway on his way to investigate something in the _'Palutena Relaxation Room'_ that sounded an awful lot like a couch being overturned to be used as a shield.

At least that's what he had heard.

"Hello...? Is anyone in here?" he peeked his head through the door, and promptly got a face full of aqua paint. "Ahh! We're under attack! I can't see!" the Centurion was as blind as a bat now but despite his vision being covered by a blueish greenish color he could clearly hear the sounds of two giggling children.

"AAH! Captain is that you?! Did they get you too?! Oh no! Skyworld doesn't stand a chance!"

The sounds of giggling stopped, replaced with sounds of someone yelling, "Time out! Time out!" Suddenly the Centurion could see again thanks to Pit wiping the last of the paint off his face using his own scarf, "There you go Centurion! Sorry about that I guess my aim was a little off."

"A little?" Dark Pit chimed in from behind the couch.

Pit stuck out his tongue at him.

"What's going on Captain and Dark Captain?! It sounded like there was an explosion in here!" the Centurion looked around the room, he wasn't entirely wrong. After Pittoo had shot the first tube of red paint Pit had retaliated with a tube of cyan.

Then Pittoo shot with pink, Pit shot back with green. And so on.

Until the whole room looked like an abstract painting. Pit laughed "I guess... me and Pittoo got a little carried away."

"A little?" the Centurion looked up at the roof, also covered in paint.

Both Pits stuck out their tongues at him.

* * *

**-dont hold your breath-**

While the Centurions started cleaning up the '_Gotta get some Peace and Quiet room'_ both Pits had made their way to a Hot Spring to quickly wash up and join in the clean-up efforts. Pit had volunteered immediately as he felt it was his duty to and Dark Pit was only convinced with the promise that he could eat Pit's dessert if the cleaning took too long.

They were both a multicolored mess and as much as Pit liked the idea of having different colored wardrobe he hadn't brought up the idea to Lady Palutena so it'd have to wait another day.

They both only owned one tunic after all.

In his rush to get clean Pit had picked the closest Hot Spring so they could be back fast enough to help. It wasn't the fanciest or the warmest, but it would wash away the paint. Hopefully.

But if you took a quick glance at the Hot Spring you'd find it mysteriously devoid of any angels.

And that's because unfortunately Pit and Pittoo never settled their fight. So seeing how long they could hold their breath underwater would have to do.

Under the surface of the water both Pit and Pittoo stared each other down. Hoping the other would come up for air first. The irony of the situation was that both were mirror copies of each other. So as a result, both Pits were capable of holding their breaths for the exact same amount of time.

In theory anyway.

The thing is despite being of the same body, Pit and Dark Pit are vastly different people.

While Pit did want to win he wasn't putting in the biggest effort. In fact, he was instead very busy thinking if letting Pittoo win would make him happier. If Pittoo was happy maybe he would be willing to visit more. Wouldn't that be fun? He was also a little anxious about the mess he and Pittoo made, hopefully they would be able to clean up before Lady Palutena noticed!

And on the other side of the coin, Dark Pit was putting almost all of his concentration into winning. Though, at the back of his mind he also hoped that Pit wouldn't drown in the hot spring and kill them both. Then he started thinking if his death also meant Pit's death. Did it go both ways? What was Palutena doing that she was too busy to bother them anyway? He had a lot of questions on his mind.

See, even though the Mirror of Truth had originally intended for Pit's reflection to be a perfect copy of Pit. It was because of Pit actions that a flawed copy had appeared instead. A flawed copy capable of their own ideas, thoughts and goals. And if those goals included telling his lighter half he was a puppet on strings then so be it.

Now flawed in this case doesn't mean bad, not in the slightest! What it means is that the mirror didn't get to create what it wanted.

In a way that doesn't quite make sense, Pit got to decide. And what he got was a brother. Sure it took a while but they got along eventually! For the most part.

And what all this poorly worded nonsense meant was that unfortunately for Pit, Pittoo was much more determined to win than him.

Without any sort of warning Pit stood up and gasped for fresh air. Dark Pit followed immediately after with a strained, "I win...!" In the midst of coughing for air Pit managed to say, "Y-Yeah yeah..." But he was happy for his twin even if he couldn't exactly muster up the energy to properly congratulate him since he had practically almost drowned.

And after Dark Pit had made sure Pit was alright and wasn't about to keel over, the two made their way to clean the mess they had made. Proudly wearing their newly washed tunics.

* * *

**-what did you honestly expect? -**

The good news was the room was clean and Pit's worry that Lady Palutena would deep fry him and Pittoo over a dirty room was gone.

The bad news was that they had dirtied up their tunics all over again.

Now the Hot Spring was practically boiling over with Pit and Pittoo's collective anger.

* * *

**-the 1st annual pit and dark pit competition-a-palozzacon 358/2 days-**

Before Dark Pit could even object to Pit's sudden new suggestion he found himself being dragged out of the Hot Springs and toward a strange circular arena on the edge of Skyworld. He'd been getting dragged around a lot lately, he thought. Pittoo decided he didn't much care for that.

Next thing he knew he was standing in some sort of strange fighting grounds. He did care for that.

"Ta-dah!" Pit turned around and gestured in open arms at the said grounds, looking very proud at the location that he had nothing to do with building. Instead, he mostly ended up breaking a lot of it.

The arena was covered in dirt and looked like it had been cleaned for a while. No scratch that, it looked like it hadn't even been used in years. Assorted weapons were thrown about everywhere and lines of very beat up training dummies aligned the edges of the circle. They were actually very close to the edge. A little too close actually. So close that in fact that if anyone who decided to melee them could find themselves with a one way ticket to the Overworld.

Pittoo was really glad he mostly used his Staff.

Pit gave a loud cough for and Dark Pit turned his attention to Pit, who was frozen in his stance awaiting a response from him.

"Uh? Congratulations?" Pittoo said confused as to what Pit was expecting him to say.

Pit blinked and set his arms down, "On what?"

"Well what am supposed to say?! Thanks for dragging me to your dumb fighting ring?!"

"Yes." Pit answered flatly.

Pittoo gave a small defiant huff, " Well you said we you should come here…So what's up?" Pit gave a playful laugh, suddenly a group of Centurions gathered behind him. Some flew behind of Dark Pit's direction too. Turning around he saw that there was a group of Centurions right behind him too.

"What else are people supposed to do in the **Official!** old. **Skyworld! Arena!**" The groups of Centurions behind both Pits cheered, as Pit struck a different pose for every word of** 'Official!** old. **Skyworld! Arena!'**

Pittoo decided to ignore the small detail that Pit had taken him to a defunct training arena that seemingly no one but him used anymore, and instead focus on, why?

"Okay I'll give. What are we doing?"

"We're gonna have a completion Pittoo!"

"Oh." he knew that, "What kind of competition? Cause if we fight one-on-one I think we already know who's gonna win." Pittoo said, smugly grinning.

It...It was him in cause you couldn't tell.

"Yeah! Go Dark Captain!" Several of the Centurions behind him cheered. Pit looked a little hurt about the sudden betrayal from his troops but he knew it was all in good fun. It still kind of stung though, he felt.

"I was thinking we could have like challenges! Like best two out of three!" Pit spun around and grabbed a Halo Club. "Like...Like challenges!" he said repeating himself, he was probably too excited to notice he did. "Yeah, I got it Pitstain." Dark Pit said taking out his own Staff. The Centurions behind him cheered at this incredibly simple action.

Very loudly in fact.

"Just one condition." he aimed his Staff at the Centurions not even bothering to turn around, "Can your knock off Pikmin cheer a little quieter?"

"Aahh…" Dark Pit's Centurions screamed in a hushed tone.

* * *

**-ro Sham! BO!-**

Pit and Dark Pit had decided that the first challenge they would do would be to find out who could break the most targets. They also decided that the easiest way to decide who would go first would be to play Rock-Paper-Scissors.

Predictably, it wasn't.

"Rock!"

"Paper!"

"Scissors!"

"**SHOOT!**"

Both Pits squinted their tightly closed eyes open to see that they had tied once again.

They groaned and the neutral Centurion keeping score added another point to the 'Tie' section. Neither angel was in the lead given that they had tied 44 times at this point.

"Let's go again!"

* * *

**-i almost cut this section because it was too dumb even for me-**

Pittoo yelled and threw his hands in the air in defeat, "Okay new plan! Whoever kicks that column the hardest goes first!"

"I am not doing that."

The group of Centurions cheering on Pit sounded off, "And just let him win?!"

They decided to not do that.

* * *

**-blatant angel bow erasure-**

After around 129 ties the neutral Centurion had passed on his duty to a Strongarm who had not been notified of the rules of the game and stopped counting. So, both angels decided to just flip a coin.

The coin landed on Pit's side.

Dark Pit groaned and the Centurions cheering for him groaned much quieter than him, but fair was fair. This coin flip meant that Pit would get to go first. Not that it really mattered in the end but a win was a win and Dark Pit hated not winning. Pit excitedly ran towards the piles of weapons and started throwing Bows, Staffs, and Arms around. He looked like he was feverishly looking for _something_. Dark Pit narrowly dodged a Blade that flew towards him, the Centurion behind him did not.

"Hey! Watch where you're throwing things Pitstain!" But no matter how loud Dark Pit had yelled Pit was too concentrated on his search to notice.

After a while and four downed Centurions he finally brandished his weapon of choice. "Tah-dah! My trusty Fairy Orbitars!" in Pit's hands were two blue and pink Orbitars that resembled two small fairies.

Dark Pit paid no mind to them and took a seat on one of the thrown about barrels. Hopefully to watch Pit miss every shot he was about to make.

"Why not use a Staff instead?" Pit look almost confused at Pittoo's suggestion. "Why's that?" Pit asked.

"You know, Staffs are better at aiming and have longer range. It's battle strategy 101 Pit. I mean, geez doesn't Palutena tell you anything. Oh wait-"

"WELL!" Pit said interrupting Dark Pit before he got to finish his insult. "You may not know it but these-!" he lifted the Orbitars and they took their respective places floating just above Pit's shoulders. "-are my strongest weapons! The strongest Fairy Orbitars known to humans and gods!"

"Then why are they here in a pile of weapons that took you ten minutes to dig through?"

"I may have lost them!" he gleefully answered, "But enough about that!" Pit turned to the targets that covered the barely-clinging-to-life training dummies. "Let me show you why they call me the sharpest and most handsome-est shooter in all of Skyworld!"

"No one calls you that!" Dark Pit yelled from the back.

"Ye-haw! Go Captain sharpest and most handsome-est shooter in all of Skyworld! You can do it!" the Centurions siding for Pit cheered on cue.

"Ah." He wasn't even surprised at this point.

The first shot, or rather shots rang out from the Orbitars and they were both a direct hit on the target. "Ha! One point for Pit!" he declared, pumping his fist in the air, narrowly avoiding punching one of his Orbitars.

"It's just point Pitstain. Don't get too exci-" Before Dark Pit could even finish his sentence Pit had shot again. And hit another target down. Again.

Much to Dark Pit's disbelief Pit had acquired almost ten points if the Centurion keeping count could be believed. He starred in disbelief at his twin, who at this point wasn't even aiming at the target dummies anymore. Pit was practically twirling across the battlefield and Pittoo was trying to wrap his mind at how he was managing to still hit his mark.

Did the Fairy Orbitars have homing shots? He'd never used them before so he had no idea if they did. Even if they did, did homing shots work for targets that weren't even alive? Pit couldn't have been serious when he said these where the strongest Fairy Orbitars known to human and gods could he?!

Whatever the case was Dark Pit was much more determined to win after the counting Centurion had counted Pit had hit 25 targets in total.

Thankfully he was hiding his jealously remarkably well.

"And done! Bet you can't beat that Pittoo!" Pit called down his Fairy Orbitars and put them away. Pit's Centurion cheer squad quickly made their way over to him and started to congratulate him, as if he had practically already won.

"Congrats Captain!"

"Dark Captain doesn't stand a chance I think!"

"Woah Captain! You hit those targets so fast I didn't even see!"

Pit, of course was never one to shy away from praise and happily took in the Centurions admiration. Dark Pit pouted and starred back at his own team of Centurions. "Can we boo?" one asked quietly.

"As loud as you can."

* * *

**\- this section wasnt planned it just happened-**

"Wait." Dark Pit said looking around and interrupting the congratulations and very loud booing, "Pit you dunce! You shot all the targets! What am I supposed to shoot at now?!"

In a sudden bout of realization Pit frantically turned to all directions hoping he had missed a few targets. He knew he hadn't. Of course he hadn't he was just that good, but he would keep that thought to himself.

Thankfully, staring past a behind a very angry Pittoo, Pit was able to catch a quick glance of the kitchen they had started in.

"Actually Pittoo...I have an idea!"

"That's a first."

Pit took off running without a care.

* * *

**-target practice...TWO!-**

A Centurion adjusted the squash that had been placed on their head.

"Uh Captain? I don't think this is a good idea?" Raising his concerns on the very not-good idea.

"It's only dangerous if I miss..." Pittoo spun his staff, clearly showing off, "...and I never miss." Pit wanted to bring up how he had missed him several times after their first meeting and with the same staff even!

But he didn't feel like taking a shot to the face. He'd leave that to the Centurions.

* * *

**-in case anyone cared, pit won. cause he could only carry back so many vegetables for pitoo to shoot-**

**BANG!**

A centurion dashed to the left, making Pittoo miss his target. Something he absolutely hated doing, and promised he never did but let's forget that little detail for his sake.

"Hey! hold still!" Pittoo yelled at the one remaining centurion. The others had had their vegetables safely shot off, save for a few head injuries caused by fainting from fear. There was just one left and Pittoo's patience was running thin.

"You can do it Pittoo!" Pit cheered and the Centurions on Pittoo's side cheered with him albeit a lot more quietly in fear for their lives.

Another shot rang out and the centurion dodged quickly to the right. What Pittoo or Pit or anyone for that matter didn't notice was that said Centurion had been in front of a precisely Palutena-placed column.

And said column just took a shot from a Dark Pit Staff at full charge.

There was silence from all parties as a faint crackling sound began to get louder and louder. The marble column started to teeter to one side. Angel and Centurion eyes following it as it leaned back. Finally, it broke off its foundation and went over the railing.

Falling off of Skyworld and into whatever fate awaited it on the ground.

* * *

**-grounded-**

"Scatter!"

Centurions flew in all sorts of directions in a panic. Obviously not wanting to share in whatever punishment awaited the two angels from their blunder.

Luckily for everyone involved Palutena was too busy dropping doilies on her worshipers to care.

"Well that happened." Pittoo stared into the distance where the Strongarms had flown. Since they were more muscle than brains in their panic they managed to knock down more columns, though they didn't seem to notice.

Oh well. He never did care for the Strongarms. Or marble columns.

"So what do we do now Pitstain?" Pittoo asked, but Pit didn't seem to notice his question as he stared at the panicked flying Centurions with a smile on his face.

"Hey Pit?" Still no answer.

Eventually Pittoo looked down and noticed Pit was clenching his fists. So that was it, he thought.

Pit was jealous.

But he was hiding well at least.

* * *

**-my wish would be...-**

"Hey Pittoo?" Pittoo looked up to face Pit. Pit continued, "What was it like? Being able to fly by yourself?"

Dark Pit thought he could come up with an easy answer, something along the lines of "It was awesome." or "It felt like flying, duh" But, he couldn't bring himself to answer Pit's question with those.

What _was_ it like when he was able to fly by himself? It had been so long since then, he couldn't have forgotten what it felt like already? Could he ever?

The feeling of being able to fly where _he_ wanted to. Not having to land until _he_ wanted to. Going as high as _he_ wanted to.

Pit had never been able to do that.

Flying by himself meant that he was the one making the decisions, not some other higher command. Pittoo frowned, he had always missed the power of his own flight but now it stung more than ever.

He sure didn't miss Pandora though. Good riddance.

Pittoo finally answered, "I guess it felt like freedom."

After a bit of silence Pit chuckled, "That's so corny Pittoo." Dark Pit's response was to wordlessly push Pit over a Skyworld railing.

* * *

**-drift compatible-**

After pleading for Viridi to rescue Pit from a hard landing and an apology the two brothers were once again at a loss of what to do.

They both sat on the edge of Skyworld brainstorming ideas.

Luckily, or unluckily depending on who you ask, both had a tendency to know what the other was thinking. So if Pit's face suddenly lit up with an idea Pittoo knew to immediately say, "No." if he knew the idea was no good. And if Pittoo suddenly had a mischievous grin on his face because of an idea, Pit knew to immediately say, "No Pittoo we're gonna get in trouble if we do that!"

A wild scene to any outsider who didn't know them that's for sure.

Dark Pit looked at a distant island in Skyworld. He had tried his best to never spend much time here, so he was unfamiliar with the layout of the place. He gave a confused look, Pit responded like clockwork. "You wanna know what's over there?"

Dark Pit nodded, "Yeah. What's up with it?" Pit gave an embarrassed chuckle, not exactly the response he was expecting.

"I don't exactly know what that place is either!"

Dark Pit smirked and Pit knew Pittoo's mind was made up.

* * *

**-bridge idea, copyright of my brother circa 2019-**

You see, Skyworld itself is divided into several islands some of them being miles apart. Naturally for an angel incapable of flight by himself this poses a large unavoidable problem.

Luckily for the two angels Palutena had thought of this years ago, back when Pit was around five. Before the bridges she had personally flown him around from island to island. She had never wanted Pit to spend his life isolated to one island but as Pit grew up it was getting harder for her to do so. Her solution was to install special bridges made of light able to be activated by the simple press of a button. No calling for the Goddess of Light necessary! And she had lovingly titled these bridges...

"Pitty bridges? Seriously?" Pittoo watched as Pit pressed the button to summon said bridge of light.

Pit laughed, "Yeah...it's a little on the nose isn't it?"

Light materialized from the base of the bridge and stretched out all the way to the end. On its way the bridge connected to floating safety rails, implemented after Pit had fallen off trying to cross the bridges one too many times.

"Come on Pittoo! Its totally safe! I've walked on these things like hundreds of times!" Pit took the first brave steps on the bridge. He jumped and stomped his feet on the light bridge to show Pittoo that they were in no danger of falling.

"It's safe! I promise!"

Dark Pit still had his doubts, but he decided to throw caution to the wind and slowly stepped on to the bridge. Closing his eyes and bracing to step on nothing but air, Dark Pit took one step forward.

And felt himself step on solid ground.

Once he felt safe enough to take a full step forward, he opened his eyes and saw that Pit was still waiting for him just a few feet ahead.

"Are you okay now Pittoo? These bridges can be pretty scary the first time! I'll wait for you!"

He for sure wasn't going to let it show, but he appreciated it nonetheless.

* * *

**-mysterious building-**

The Pitty bridge's novelty and scariness wore off pretty fast for Dark Pit as he found himself running past Pit to reach the end of the bridge first. Once they had both made it to the other side Pit pressed a similar button he had pressed to call the Pitty bridge the first time. This time instead it quickly dematerialized the bridge right before their easily impressed eyes.

After they had both watched in awe at the bridge disappearing they turned their attention to the object of their search. A mysterious circular building with a glass dome for a roof. Dark Pit had asked Pit on the bridge if he was lying about not knowing anything about this building. He had his doubts considering Pit had been living here his entire life how could he not know this place like the back of his hand by this point?

But Pit was very insistent on having no idea what the building was. While he crossed the bridge, Pit tried to remember any old buildings Lady Palutena had told him not to enter since that was probably the only thing that would stop him from getting near one. After an excruciating three minutes of thinking he found that he really didn't know what it was. He almost felt like he never even noticed the building until Pittoo had pointed it out fifteen minutes ago.

And by the looks of the building it looked like no one in Skyworld remembered the building either.

The strange building was covered in moss and dust and several other things that would indicate to someone that no one had come close to entering the inside for several years.

Unfortunately 'no one' did not include spiders.

"Ahh!" Dark Pit screamed, quickly recoiling his hands from a wall he had been touching.

"What's wrong?!" Pit's voice rang. Pittoo remained silent eyeing the spider as it crawled away through a crack in the wall. "N-Nothing." he finally answered.

"So you screamed for no reason?" Pit said, obviously doubting Pittoo's claims.

"Yeah that's exactly it. Now do something useful and help me find a door!"

Both Pits were now doing their best to search for a way in by clearing the shrubbery that had overtaken the building. Eventually Dark Pit found something that resembled a door so much that it might have even been a door.

Without telling Pit he attempted to open it, only to disappointingly find it locked shut. "Darn." he whispered.

Pit, always at attention yelled back, "Did you find it?!" Dark Pit was hoping he would be able to call Pit over once he had opened the door to show off how cool he was but that clearly wasn't going to happen so...

"Yeah I found it. Bad news though, its locked."

Pit frowned, there was no way either of them would find out what this place was now! Unless of course he'd asked Lady Palutena or something.

But something in the back of his mind felt like he maybe shouldn't do that...

* * *

**-harcore PARKOUR-**

"Be careful Pittoo! Remember if you die **I** die!" Dark Pit could have sworn he never remembered establishing that, but okay.

He honestlydidn't have time to debate Pit on his sudden idea that the connection they shared went both ways considering he was climbing halfway up the mysterious building. "Pittoo!" Pit yelled again. "Are you stuck? If you fall I'll catch you don't worry!" he would, Pit was an angel of his word. Even if that word ended up possibly breaking both of their arms.

Thanks to the overgrown leaves across the building Dark Pit was easily able grab them and climb all the way to the glass dome on the roof. Or rather the glass dome that was the roof.

"Ha! Made it!"

"Did you make it?!" another yell from Pit echoed from down below. Pittoo had climbed up to the point where he could no longer see him and it made him just a tad bit worried,

Despite that Dark Pit rolled his eyes, hadn't Pit just heard him say that he reached the top?

Oh well he could say it again. "Yeah! I'm up here but it doesn't look like there's a way in!" Dark Pit tapped at the glass, the glass was so foggy that there was no way he could look through it and see what was inside either. The plan he hadn't thought about at all was staring to seem like a bust.

Until they both heard the distinct sound of glass cracking.

"Uh oh."

And before Pittoo could even think or say anything else he heard Pit yell out, "Don't worry Pittoo I'm coming!" At almost record speeds Pit climbed the building much faster than Pittoo had done and made his way to where Pittoo was kneeling on the glass.

Dark Pit was almost jealous. But the feelings of impending doom came first.

"No wait-!"

As soon as Pit stepped foot on the glass it cracked open and the two fell into the misty unknown.

* * *

**-use those 2 braincells-**

Thanks to the sudden hole in the roof of the building the mist that had accumulated on the inside had finally found a way to escape. As the mist cleared the true identity of the mysterious building slowly began to be revealed.

Along with two angels lying flat on the ground. One facing the ground and one facing the sky.

Dark Pit was the first to notice the large trees that surrounded them. The trees were thick with leaves and had something strange hanging off them. Staring harder he saw that they were fruit of some kind, though of what kind it was hard to tell from where he was.

Pit on the other hand had a very good view of the ground. Looking around he saw that they had landed in a pile of flowers. He wasn't exactly an expert on flowers but there were so many different shapes and colors of flowers he concluded that they all had to be different types.

Soon enough the mist had completely escaped, leaving the building completely exposed to the sunlight coming in from the new makeshift skylight. One of the first things they noticed was that; unsurprisingly just like the outside the inside was small. Finally, both angels were able to see clearly what the inside of the mysterious building hid.

Pittoo stood to get a better view of where they had landed, while Pit sat upright still a little hurt from falling.

"What is this place Pit?"

"I...I don't think I know?"

Putting all their clues and using their combined brain power together they came to the conclusion that they had landed in a garden of some kind.

* * *

**-pit isnt a good storyteller-**

"I know this place!"

Pit's sudden contradicting scream caused Pittoo to almost trip over himself. Thankfully he was able to catch himself before he made a fool of himself.

Pit stood up almost too fast for his body to catch up, causing him to trip several times before both of his legs were able to support him. "Pittoo! Pittoo! I know this place! I think!" he ran from one end of the small garden to another.

"T-These trees are peach trees! And these flowers I know these flowers!"

Dark Pit silently watched Pit run around and happily yell about how he suddenly remembered the garden. But he couldn't believe the word of someone who just a few seconds ago had told him he had practically no memory of this building even existing.

"Are you sure you're not just mistaking it for somewhere else?" Dark Pit asked, he looked up at the tree he had decided to sit under. It was indeed a peach tree just like Pit said.

Lucky guess.

Pit stopped to and turned to Pittoo, "I think I remember now! I've been in here a long time ago. Lady Palutena was here too and so were...other people?"

"You mean the Centurions?" Dark Pit could only think of them being the other people.

"No...it wasn't them. They were taller, I think and-"

Pit's smile soon faded, replaced with a solemn frown. Dark Pit could feel that whatever memory Pit had finally dug up was probably not one he was hoping for.

* * *

**-palutena enacts the beautiful town ordinance-**

Pit concentrated really hard.

If you asked him how hard he was thinking he wouldn't answer you. He was thinking that much.

While Pit was busy doing that, Dark Pit had entertained himself with climbing one of the peach trees and lounging on top of them. He knew Pit was trying to remember something very important and felt that Pit would only let him know what it was once he felt comfortable about it. So wasting time by eating peaches it was.

Once he took the first bite however, he suddenly remembered on how this building had been abandoned for years now. The fruit was probably spoiled rotten by now! He anticipated being met with worms and bugs or whatever grew in rotten fruit to be spat out of his mouth, but instead when he bit down what he tasted was just a plain run-of-the-mill peach.

That doesn't make sense, he thought, this place looked completely desolate before they had both broken in. There was no way stuff in here could actually still be alive? Dark Pit took a closer look at his surroundings, he hadn't considered it at first but how were the trees and flowers in here even still alive after all this time?

Maybe it was a goddess thing. Maybe Palutena was able to keep the garden healthy using...light? Though he couldn't see someone like Palutena taking care of a garden at all.

"Hey Pittoo..." Pit's voice rang out from under Pittoo and he turned to see Pit sitting almost right under him.

Pit gripped at his bracelet. "I...um." he was nervous about telling Pittoo what he remembered about this place. Part of him hoped that Pittoo would have some memories about this place too so he wouldn't have to physically say anything.

But after a while of hoping it seemed like Pittoo was as clueless about this place as Pit had first been.

"Hey Puppit." Pit looked up too see Pittoo sitting on a branch, "If you don't wanna tell me about it then don't."

"But I want to! So I'm gonna tell you!"

Dark Pit jumped down from the tree and landed besides Pit, "Then I'm all ears."

* * *

**-Once there were trees full of birds.-**

"I don't remember a lot from before I defeated Medusa 31 years ago. But now I remember that me and Lady Palutena used to be in here a lot!" Pit smiled looking at the patch of tall white flowers a few feet from them, "I think we both planted those together. I was pretty small though, so I think she did most of the work!" he laughed, Pittoo didn't think it was that funny.

"It wasn't just us two in here. Sometimes other angels would be in here with us too." Dark Pit was going to interrupt him, but he decided against it.

"They were all tall and they could all fly around by themselves. You couldn't go anywhere in Skyworld without seeing one." he paused, "I think?" Pit's gaze turned to the peach trees, "I think they knew I couldn't fly by myself so they would carry me up there to get peaches."

He got quiet.

"I think some of them even took care of me when Lady Palutena couldn't." Pit said shuffling himself closer to the peach tree, "I guess it's too bad I can't thank em'."

Pittoo kept listening intently. There wasn't much he could add to the conversation he didn't remember them either. In fact, he might have remembered less than Pit did and he couldn't think of anything to say to make Pit feel better, though he was trying his hardest.

"I wish I could remember more about them. I feel kinda bad you know considering everything I think they did for me." Pit stopped again, this time it took a little longer, "Lady Palutena once told me dying over and over in the underworld can have some weird side effects. I guess _some_ memory loss was one of them.

Pit sighed. "Lady Palutena also said that Medusa might have wiped out all the Angels in her last attack back then. There might be a few survivors maybe, but as far as she knows I'm-uh- **_WE'RE_** the last ones left."

He looked away from his brother and shakily whispered, "And she knows a lot Pittoo."

Pittoo scoffed, "Well she sure acts like a know-it-all but I bet she's doesn't it _know it all_." he made his way closer to Pit and sat down next to him "Just because she's a Goddess doesn't mean she knows everything Pit. Remember the Aurum? She didn't know about those!"

Despite feeling that Pit's eyes were beginning to water Pittoo continued, "So if anything, I can bet your life and mine that there have to be some angels still out there. I bet they even remember you."

Pit remained silent.

Dark Pit paused to think for a few seconds, "...Even if we are the last ones. You're not the worst guy I could've gotten stuck with the whole 'last of our kinds' thing."

He turned away from his brother and smiled, "Besides, it's me and you. Pit and...Pittoo."

Pit let out a soft laugh and hugged his brother. For once Dark Pit didn't push him away.

* * *

**-...and so was I.-**

Pit and Pittoo sat in the garden. There was really nothing else to talk about and they were pretty tired from running around all day.

A faint breeze blew into the garden.

They both thought it was nice to just stop and sit for a minute.

And they were all out of ideas on what to do.

* * *

**-1 guess at who almost eats a flower-**

"Why did you put that in your mouth?!"

Pit didn't answer, busy spitting out pink carnation petals from his mouth. "Pew! Pew! I-I see it was a flower! I just saw the color and thought it'd taste like a cake! Cause its pink you know!"

"No! I don't know!"

They were both starving.

* * *

**-pit's personal ladder-**

Pit and Dark Pit looked up, alerted by the sounds of fluttering wings to find a trio of Centurions curiously looking down at the two of them.

"Oh! Hi Captain! Hi Dark Captain! What are the two of you doing in there?", Dark Pit wanted to answer sarcastically at the Centurions dumb question, but he found that he couldn't be bothered to. One the trio of Centurions flew down to their level, " Are you stuck in here? Captain, don't you remember what Lady Palutena said about going places that are too tall for you?"

"Yeah yeah, to always have you guys around in case I get stuck." it got pretty embarrassing to have Centurions bail him out of places he got stuck in so he almost never remembered to call for them before going anywhere. Most of the time Palutena had to send out a group of Centurions after Pit telepathically called for help to her from his precarious situation.

Pittoo raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Wait. Let me get this straight, the Centurions just fly you out of places you get stuck in?"

Pit blushed and nodded. He didn't like to admit it but that's basically what they did.

"And they'll help you fly up anywhere that's high up? Riiiight?"

Pit and Pittoo's eyes lit up, both knowing exactly what the other was thinking.

* * *

**-DA NANA NAAAAAAAAAAAAA-**

"Are you sure about this Captains?" Both Centurion's voices quaked with worry. They both knew the consequences that awaited all four of them if the Captains went forward with their plan.

Only their thoughts mostly consisted of; Pit eating Palutena's cookies=bad.

Both Captains responded with enthusiastic nods.

The Centurions were taken aback, "E-Even you Dark Captain!?"

"I've never been more sure about anything. Ever." He certainly had been at one point in his nine-year-ish life. What he probably meant to say was that he had never been more hungry for cookies now than any other point in his life.

The Centurions reluctantly sighed, there really was no talking them out of this one by this point. Both angels jumped on the back of their respective Centurion. Despite being well known for their weakness and general lack of fighting prowess the Centurions were remarkably strong for someone of their size. So, the weight of a relatively small teenage angel was no problem for either of them.

They flew past the vegetables, Pit blew a raspberry at them as he flew past. He really didn't like it when Lady Palutena made him eat those.

Then they flew past the baking ingredients, they were all individually labeled. Pittoo had only begun to practice reading but he could have sworn one of those labels had read _'For Pittoo's birthday party'_.

Or something like that.

They flew past the pastas, the utensils, the fire hazard equipment and the snacks.

They flew closer and closer to the cookies, until...

Pit and Pittoo both took a leap of faith, jumping from the Centurion's backs. This caused both Centurions to give a yelp of surprise and fall back towards the ground. Pittoo reached his arm towards the jar of cookies that had eluded them all afternoon, now more than ever he was that close to some sweet chocolate chip cookies

Bothering Palutena was also a nice bonus.

Unfortunately, Pittoo ended up falling short of the cookies, only able to gently graze them with his hand before gravity began sending him falling back down.

Before Dark Pit could even spread out his wings to slow his decent the other Pit, who had jumped from his Centurion just a few seconds before Pittoo and was a little higher than him as a result, saw a familiar opportunity and took it. Using Pittoo's head as a sort of step Pit launched himself upwards just enough to knock the jar off its shelf, sending it falling with both angels.

One of which was screaming at the top of his lungs at why the other had the stupid plan of doing what he just did, the other one was laughing.

Meanwhile, the two Centurions had barely hit the ground when they heard said screaming and laughing only to look up and see two angels falling towards them. In an absolute panicked frenzy both Centurions ran around in a futile attempt to catch them. Which resulted in them actually succeeding in catching them, just barely.

"Thanks Centurion!" Pit said, flashing a smile at the Centurion holding him up. "Yeah Thanks." Dark Pit still hadn't forgotten how he had been just used as a launch pad about 20 seconds ago, but he figured it wasn't the Centurion's fault so he'd get to live.

For now.

One of the Centurions spoke up, "Captain did you get what you wanted? Please say you did..."

Pit gave a chuckle, and triumphantly held up a large jar of cookies above his head. And just like that Pittoo had forgiven Pit's act of violence against his head.

**FOR NOW.**

"We got the cookies!" both Pits cheered simultaneously.

* * *

**-super kid icarus maker 2 plot leaked-**

The group of humans gave a collective groan of vast disappointment. They had been working all day and in the blink of an eye all their hard work had suddenly disappeared, the temple was back to how it had started. They must have upset the Goddess of Light somehow and now this was their divine punishment. Even though the lot of them had been certain that she had been the one blessing them with the building materials.

They must have made a fatal mistake at some point.

One brought up that maybe they had spread the doilies too thin. Another brought up the fact that the pots of flowers were badly placed. And one human insisted that the glass ornaments filled with water should have been placed outside the temple rather than inside of it.

Regardless off the details the group of worshipers decided to give up for the day and head home, all of them agreeing with each other to try again tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a familiar mercenary who had been watching the show since the morning gave a hearty laugh.

She also nearly fell over backwards laughing.

* * *

**-one tells lies, the other also tells lies but worse-**

After half of her new temple was painted blue and decorated with multiple roses Palutena began to have her doubts on her future career as a home decorator. She reluctantly decided to let the humans start from square one and swiped her temple clean to allow them to begin again. Sure, it confused the heck out of all the humans but she had faith that they would be able to do a better job than her at this point.

"It's for the best I suppose." she reassured herself while heading the down to the kitchen. Right now Palutena wanted nothing more than to drown her sorrows in some of her favorite snacks, which just so happened to be chocolate chip cookies.

To her surprise she seemed to have been beaten to the kitchen by her own angels. "Well that's unexpected." Palutena considered leaving them both alone amongst themselves. It wasn't often Pittoo came over to visit Pit and often when he did once Palutena came into the picture he would just focus on getting as many insults at her as he could. Which most of the time wound up upsetting Pit which then gave way into the whole _'Puppet'_ conversation. Then Dark Pit would leave, and Pit would mope in his room until dinner. Rinse and repeat.

So, she thought it best to let Pit and Pittoo bond by themselves. Palutena would back and check on them later, she could wait for her delicious chocolate chip cookies. But as she turned she happened to hear some of their exchanges.

"Can you believe those two Centurions flew off before even -munch- getting a bite of these?!"

"-crunch- They probably just -crunch- don't wanna get on Lady Palutena's bad side! I sure don't!"

Out of curiosity Palutena looked past the doorway and into the kitchen to see the two sitting on the floor happily munching on...something? The thought of the two of them eating her favorite cookies crossed her mind, but that was impossible. She had placed the jar well out of both of their reaches. They must have been eating the pumpkin seeds she had left Pit that morning. That must have been it right?!

"Whatever. you can take whatever she dishes out right? -munch- besides just consider this your first towards independence. Maybe you can decide your own bedtime next Puppit."

"Hey! My bedtime is following the angels code of conduct!" Pit answered back in a huff.

"The wha-?"

**"AHEM!"**

Both angels froze mid-bite and their stares moved towards the doorway of the kitchen. Palutena stood there, hands on her hips and sporting a face that was just screaming 'Just what is going on here?!'

"Just what is going on here?!" Palutena asked the two very guilty looking angels.

Pit and Pittoo remained silent and still, only moving their eyes to stare at one another. Each of them hoping the other had a good excuse. Much to Dark Pit's fear, Pit spoke up first.

"He-Hey Lady Palutena! Now I know this looks bad but I can assure you there's a good explanation for this that won't get me grounded for a month ha ha!" Palutena raised an eyebrow. Pit had never been a good liar, but it was more apparent to her now than a few seconds ago that something was up.

"All right then Pit. Let's hear it." Pit seemed to be surprised to hear that sort of response and his eyes darted from place to place. A telltale sign that he was trying his hardest to lie. He nervously fluttered his wings behind him, "Ri-Right...It. So...you see me and Pittoo wanted a snack and we sorta found some just lying around?" Pit tried his hardest not to make eye contact with Palutena, afraid she would call his bluff immediately.

Palutena gave a small snort at Pit's attempt of a lie. She couldn't help it if she thought it was cute, it almost made her forget she was angry at them.

In the background Pittoo grimaced, how could his mirror self be this bad at lying. Though, he thought when you're raised to be eternally loyal to someone you can't help but not be bad at hiding things.

What a raw deal.

In the middle of Pit's stuttering, Pittoo spoke up "What Pit is TRYING to say is that we just found these cookies lying around on the GROUND and decided to eat them." Pittoo's wings twitched, "Isn't that right Pitstain?"

Pit rapidly nodded. Pittoo rapidly stared at the ground then back to Palutena.

She sighed, what a stroke of luck that both Pits were absolutely horrible at lying.

* * *

**-god, now I want cookies-**

Palutena weighed her options.

On one hand, she was livid that her favorite cookies had mostly eaten by Pit and Pittoo, and after she went to all that trouble to make sure they were 100 percent Pit-proof.

On the other hand, if she hadn't been busy all day she might have noticed that both of them were in serious need of snacks. They were both growing angels after all and with the amount that they both run around they often ended up working up their appetites remarkably fast.

On the other _other_ hand Palutena was really craving sweets.

"Okay!" Both Pits looked up at her in worry and tense apprehension. "How about instead of finishing off **MY** cookies we make a real snack?"

Pit gulped, "You're...You're not mad?"

"Oh Pit..." Palutena laughed, she reached out for him and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Of course I am!"

* * *

**-palutena "bakes" a cake-**

Pit looked at the delicious chocolate cake and strawberry cake and licked his lips. He couldn't wait to start eating them, but he also couldn't decide which one he wanted to try first!

Sure, the strawberry one had delicious looking pink frosting and a pineapple on top but on the other hand the chocolate cake was chocolate! He loved _loved_ **loved** chocolate! The choice was too hard to make! He thought about asking Lady Palutena which to try first, but she'd probably wouldn't know either.

"Stop that. You're fogging up the glass." Pit glanced up at Pittoo, who was looking down at the kneeling Pit. "Now hurry and get up you're embarrassing me."

True to her word Palutena had tried to make them a better snack than a jar of half eaten chocolate chip cookies. But in her attempt to do she almost set fire to all of Skyworld. Again.

In desperation she had decided to instead get a cake from the local God grocery store, which had been recently put back into business thanks to Viridi and several unnamed extra gods.

"I haven't picked the cake I wanna get!"

"Why not let Palutena choose then?" Dark Pit said with a great amount of sarcasm.

"Good idea!" Pit agreed, much to Dark Pit's disappointment. He stood up from looking at the assorted cakes that were on display behind glass. Dark Pit was right, Pit had been fogging up the glass.

Taking off running to where Palutena was busy looking at her own row of cakes he yelled out to her, "Lady Palutena!" she looked up to be greeted by Pit and his sulking twin. "Did you two decide what cake you wanted? Because I did!" Dark Pit seemed to sulk even more hearing that question, never a good sign.

"Actually, Lady Palutena." Pit smiled, "I couldn't decide so maybe you could choose one instead! We're all sharing anyway so I'm sure whatever flavor you'll pick it'll be great!" Behind him Pittoo gave a loud groan. Pit ignored him, eagerly awaiting an answer from her. Palutena thought long and hard about what cake she would have preferred at that very moment in time.

"How about chocolate? I've always been fond of chocolate."

Pit cheered, "That's my favorite too Lady Palutena!" he decided to lead her back to the chocolate cake that had caught his eye earlier, his twin following closely behind. "Did you know it was my favorite too Lady Palutena?"

"My All-Seeing Eye sees everything Pit! There's no _knowledge_ or _secret_ that can hide from the Goddess of Light!" Palutena said, hand on her large necklace looking rather proud of her boast.

While Pit 'oh'd' and 'ah'd' over his Goddess, Dark Pit silently followed behind them, happy that Palutena had chosen chocolate.


	3. Magnus goes grocery shopping

_**In which Magnus goes grocery shopping.**_

* * *

**-the seaside town and a broken record if you read the other one-**

The sun rose over the horizon and signaled the start of a new day for the inhabitants of the town and the areas surrounding it.

It was the cue for The Seaside Town to come to life. Children ran outside to play, adults began their work days and shops opened their doors. Routine had returned to normal after what seemed to be years of humanity holding their breaths. Awaiting the next catastrophe that would befall them from the Gods. Could be a war between Gods or a single God deciding that they were fed up with humanities action.

Whichever came first really.

Eventually, most had stopped praying to the Gods for forgiveness and protection on a daily basis and instead just occasionally asked not to be smited. There was the occasional catastrophic event here and there that was blamed on Gods and there was talk on how humanity could avoid being sent such punishments, but it was soon forgotten about in favor of living peaceful lives. And who could really blame them?

There were the devout worshipers however. They had mostly stayed the same throughout the years. Some even say that they became more devout after Palutena's attacks. Groups of them had even gone on a quest to restore some of her more older temples.

Fortunately for every human on earth none of them had any **real** direct contact with the gods, so none of them could tell how much this bothered some them. No human was lucky enough to know just how petty the Gods could really be, so as far as they knew the Gods were enjoying this new era of peace as much as humankind was.

Unfortunately, one human living in the hills of The Seaside Town knew that this peace wouldn't last.

* * *

**-oh dear this isnt going to work out but i can say i tried-**

The rays of the sun shone through Magnus' makeshift curtains. It had been a rush job just to make sure his new east facing home didn't blind him every time the morning sun rose. Unfortunately, it only made him madder every morning when the sun made its way into his living room regardless of the curtains.

There in the middle of the room Magnus lay on his beat up couch, squinting as the sun reached his eyes. He groaned and turned his back to the sun, "Stupid sun God..." He hadn't slept well last night, or any night for a good while now. He'd been spending most his nights laying on his couch unable to sleep for whatever reason. He recalled that Gaol called it insomnia? Something like that, he wasn't listening very well at the time

He had tried his hardest to remember what she said about it in the middle of one of their recent scuffles with local bandits.

_"They say people with insomnia just have a lot of their minds Magnus." she said while holding a bandit in an armlock, _

_"Magnus you should know that me of all people have experience with this so let me help you out." Magnus answered back with a simple, "I'm fine. Don't bother with me just focus on your own problems Gaol!" he slammed a bandit into the hard ground._

_"Yeah, we'll see how far that gets you."_

Magnus let out a weak laugh, he had felt sluggish during that encounter. He knew if he didn't get a good night of sleep soon, he'd most likely be killed within the week. Imagine that, one of the strongest humans on earth felled by a lack of sleep. Not that he thought of himself as one the strongest humans but it would make for a heck of a story.

Deciding that he was tired of lying around and feeling sorry for himself, Magnus rose up to his feet. "Alright Magnus." he said motivating himself to stay up, "All you have to do is stay alive for another let's say, 40 years? Easy right?" Making breakfast seemed like a good start for the rest of his life.

Suddenly, the front door slammed open. A lone figure stood before Magnus along with more blinding light of the sun.

"Didn't take you for someone who talked to themselves Magnus."

* * *

**-damn magnus you live like this?-**

Gaol didn't think of herself as the type of person who would help people for free. She'd liked to be repaid back for her services, whether it be monetary or a favor for her down the line.

But since this was Magnus she was helping, Gaol figured he of all people should get a freebie once in a while. And he damn well needed it, his house was a mess. Dust lined his furniture and various household objects were littered around the house. His dirty clothes were strewn around the house along with a few weapons that looked as if he had thrown around at random. She knew Magnus didn't spend much time in his house but this was pushing it.

"Gaol get out of my house."

"Jokes on you I'm already in your house." she carefully stepped over some broken plates scattered across the floor and sat on the one chair that wasn't covered with a piece of fabric, "I've been in here for a while now Magnus, you're slipping."

He sighed and tried his best to not look at her, "Fine. You're in here. What do you want?" Gaol rolled her eyes at Magnus' completely reasonable question. "I'm here to motivate you into cleaning up." she gestured to the floor, "Both figuratively and literally." Out of the both of them Gaol was definitely the one who was the slicker of the two. Magnus knew that. No matter what he said or did Gaol would get her way, so it was faster to just go with her little plan than to argue. They'd both end up in the same place either way.

"Alright, fine have it your way. Where do we start?"

Gaol didn't budge, "I think the better question is where do you start?"

'_So that's her plan'_, Magnus thought. "Let me get this straight? You're just going to sit there and watch me clean up my own house?" Gaol planted her feet on the chair next to her, "That's the plan." Magnus glared at her but ultimately decided to humor her and made his way towards his fairly close kitchen,

"Think of me as motivation personified. I'm here to guide you get your life together."

"I think this might be your weirdest plan yet Gaol, no offense."

"I know. Sometimes I even scare myself with the genius of my plans." she was already lost in her own hype.

Magnus' kitchen was by all accounts was in better shape than the rest of his house. It made sense, given that he spent less time in here than the other rooms. Ironically the only thing Magnus did in his kitchen was stand in it and think of what to eat before deciding to eat out.

"You need help already Magnus?" he sneered and turned to face her, it hadn't even been more than a minute and Gaol was already shoving herself into his problems. Well to be truthful she had done that way before this moment but Magnus couldn't be bothered to keep track.

"I'm just thinking of what to eat first. So just sit tight and let ME do my thing." the only thing Magnus could hope was that Gaol didn't take that statement as a challenge and do the complete opposite of what he had just said.

As she tended to do.

But before he knew it, Gaol was next to him rummaging through his cupboards. "What-Hey!" Magnus attempted to push her out of his kitchen but Gaol wasn't going down that easily. She couldn't help but laugh, Magnus was trying so hard to get rid of her it was almost funny.

What wasn't funny to her was the number of empty cupboards she kept opening, despite Magnus' attempts to stop her. Gaol's laughter was silenced. "Magnus." she closed her eyes and took a calming breath, "Where's all your food?"

* * *

**-a time of peace and boredom-**

"I CANNOT believe you don't have a single shred of food in your house!"

After Gaol nearly murdered Magnus in his own home with a butcher knife over a complete lack of food in his home, Magnus had suggested that instead of killing him that they could instead just go buy food from the markets in The Seaside Town. Gaol reluctantly agreed. Before they left however Magnus had argued, "I DO have food! It's right here!"

Gaol had a quick come back, "Color me surprised! I had no idea an entire loaf of bread counts as breakfast now a days. I must have missed out on more than I thought."

Now both humans were walking on a quiet route to The Seaside Town. Luckily for the both of them, Magnus didn't live that far from the town. Just a couple of five miles away, or around 8 kilometers. Magnus' new home, as stated before, resided on the hills near The Seaside Town. The house was isolated from the town but luckily near the hills there was a road that traders and travelers took. It also made for quite a scenic walk of the green hills and coast.

Gaol kept a steady pace in front of Magnus. While Magnus trailed a few feet behind. This was just one of their tactics to make sure that they weren't ambushed on the rare occasion that they decided to work together. This time however there was really no reason to do it, it was just habit at this point.

Considering everything that had happened lately they had decided to officially retire their bitter rivalry, put aside their differences and work together from now on.

Gaol hadn't been too keen on the idea, mostly because Magnus had suggested it for the sole reason of keeping an eye on her. Her response to his suggestion was to stab him but she quickly apologized as it being yet another force of habit.

All that was old news by now, and the atmosphere had certainly mellowed out since then.

"It sure has been quiet lately hasn't it Magnus." Gaol attempted to start a conversation to break the crushing silence between the two that had been present since they first started their walk. They only had a few minutes to go until the town, why Gaol choose now of all times to start talking was lost even to her.

Magnus thought about Gaol's question, it really had been quiet. no sudden attacks, no new jobs, no underworld activity. It was almost too quiet for his liking.

Almost.

"I wouldn't get used to the peace and quiet." he walked faster to catch up to Gaol, "If I've learned anything it's that something always happens to break up the peace."

"Well good. It was getting too quiet for me here anyways." Gaol slowed down, the two were walking besides each other now. They were nearing the town now so there was no reason to watch each other's backs now. But unbeknownst to the other, both always kept one eye open for any possible threats. Threats to themselves or the other. Friends always had each other's backs after all.

Sometimes.

"Wow, didn't expect to hear that from 'Ms. Dark Lord Gaol' herself." the sarcasm was obvious.

If looks could kill then the stare Gaol gave Magnus after his last remark would have most likely sliced him clean in half. Yet despite her look of absolute rage what Gaol actually felt was far from that. She had her seven years to heal and now the 'Dark Lord Gaol' incident was years behind them, and all it was good for now was a joke or two.

She was over it.

After what seemed like an eternity Gaol shrugged, "Well this 'Dark Lord' just wants more things to do. Is that so bad Magnus?"

"Well normally it'd say no. But if we still want jobs I guess something has to happen sooner or later right?" Magnus answered, Gaol nodded in agreement and the pair finally reached the town gates.

"Besides Magnus, you can't deny the armor is cool."

Magnus opened his mouth to respond but stopped to think for a second, "It was pretty cool."

* * *

**-do people do that? just go and write what they want?-**

As soon as Magnus and Gaol stepped foot into The Seaside Town the two were suddenly very overwhelmed. There certainly were a lot of different types of shops and considering Magnus had almost no food and also hadn't even come up with an idea of what he was going to eat once he got back home, they had no idea where to start.

Magnus suggested to start at the butcher. There he could buy ingredients to make a quick sandwich and then go home. He was bitterly disappointed when Gaol reminded him that they don't open until noon._ 'Well'_, he thought, _'That was my only plan down the drain.'_

Gaol brought up the idea that they could start with buying vegetables, "Those stands open up early if I remember right." Gaol explained that for whatever reason the produce stands were always the first ones open whenever she went into any town. She looked at Magnus to see if he agreed, only to see Magnus' expression turn into one of mild disgust.

"Hey what's with that look don't tell me you still hate vegetables Magnus?!"

Magnus recoiled in surprise, like he hadn't expected Gaol to notice. "Oh Please! What do I look like Gaol, a kid?!" Gaol gave him a doubtful look, "I just don't feel like eating an entire pumpkin right now. That's all."

Gaol stared at him. "Your mind just immediately went straight to pumpkins?"

"I don't like pumpkins! Is there a problem with that?"

Gaol snorted but made a mental note to try her best to ever avoid mentioning her distaste for tomatoes to Magnus.

* * *

**-whatreyou buyin?-**

"May I help you we have everything!"

A voice from a stand called out to both mercenaries. Magnus looked over to where he heard the voice come from and sure enough, they most certainly did not have everything. Just a couple of heads of lettuce and some eggplants. Before he could even argue about the boast the shopkeeper gave of _"Having everything"_, Gaol put her arm in front of him and walked to the stand.

"Dont worry Magnus. I got this."

Magnus watched as Gaol talked with the shopkeeper. As hard Magnus tried, he couldn't quite hear what they were talking about. He could only guess that Gaol was attempting to buy something off of him for a lower price than usual.

After a few minutes of watching them talk, the Shopkeeper shouted, "I guess I can't win!"

Gaol walked back triumphantly with a basket full of two heads of lettuce and an eggplant. "See? I told you I had it! The guy even threw in a free basket." Magnus took the heads of lettuce from the basket and carried them himself instead in order for the basket to have more room for food.

"You didn't threaten the poor guy, did you?" Magnus couldn't help asking. Gaol gasped in shock, "Magnus! I can't believe you think I would threaten someone just to get something for much much cheaper than its supposed to be!"

Magnus said nothing.

"Okay maybe a little bit. Look, you can watch me deal with the next guy! I promise I'll get a lower price without a single vague threat!"

"Sure Gaol."

It took almost no time at all to find another stand to buy from, this stand was filled with sweet bread and wine. Something both humans very much enjoyed.

"What do you say? Try buyin' from me!", the owner shouted.

In the end, they both ended up paying more than the full price.

* * *

**-if magnus punches someone and no one is around to hear...?-**

"NO! Stop! Give it back!"

Magnus looked over his shoulder to see try and see where the cry had come from. It was a young Boy, running and desperately pointing in front of him. Following his finger Magnus' gaze fell upon the most likely reason for of the Boy's cries. It was a grown man who held in his hand what appeared to be a small bag, most likely belonging to the boy.

The thief was heading right for them.

"Well, when you put it that way." Magnus said to no one in particular. He stuck out his arm directly in the way of the thief who promptly ran into it, knocking the air right out of him. He fell to the ground, completely unconscious.

Or dead. It was hard to tell.

Gasps and whispers from a gathering crowd began to surround the area, but Magnus didn't care for all that gossip stuff. He calmly took the bag from the _'could have been declared dead on the spot' _man and handed it to the Boy who had just caught up to them.

"Here you go. Next time maybe hold on to it a little tighter kid." the Boy nodded, embarrassed that his coin bag had been so easily swiped in broad daylight. The Boy ran off and not a second after a small crowd had begun to gather around Magnus and Gaol.

Gaol turned around from looking judging apples and was greeted with a confusing scene. "Wait Magnus, did you just knock someone out?" Gaol's question was all Magnus heard before the crowd erupted in cheers and adoration. Magnus always had mixed feelings when dealing with the aftermath of his more heroic deeds.

It basically equated to; Pay? Good. Talking to other people about how cool he was? Also good, but got old very quickly.

* * *

**-hey remember how magnus is canonically one of the strongest humans?...wait what do you mean you do-?-**

Several voices cried out at once. Every single one of them desperately wanting to be heard.

"Good going Magnus!", some praised Magnus for his deed.

"You really saved the day!...Again!", others acknowledged how good Magnus was at his job and thanked him.

"Gee you think the guys alive?", and one was just a stick in the mud.

Magnus was used to this sort of attention by now. though _'being used to it'_ and _'liking it'_ didn't exactly fall into the same group now, did it? All he had done was return a kid's wallet and knock a man out, couldn't these people just say "Wow!" and walk away. Didn't they have better things to do?

The awe filled looks of the gathering crowd begged to differ. Did they want to see him punch someone else?!

He sighed, all he wanted to do was finish shopping and go home. Magnus awkwardly tried to step back only to bump into the Shopkeeper they had just been talking to. Apologizing quickly Magnus decided to put an end to the crowd himself. At least he would try to. "It was nothing. REALLY." he held up his basket that was filled with various produce, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to finish my shopping. Right about now."

Before anyone could say "He shops for groceries just like the rest of us!", a nervous Man pushed his way to the front. "If-If You're hungry then please take this!" in his hands he held a homemade sandwich. Magnus could only assume it was the Man's very own lunch.

Like that made a difference though! don't look a gift Mik in the mouth Magnus always said!

Or was it a horse? Eh, same difference.

Magnus happily took the sandwich from the man, thanking him. Then three or four more people started offering their lunches. Did they have extras? Did they really like him that much? Oh, well free food was free food Magnus figured. It was better than being endlessly complimented, that's for sure.

However, Magnus' surprised happiness at his current situation was more or less the complete opposite of how Gaol was feeling at that very moment in time.

Because in the ensuing chaos and jubilation Gaol had been pushed to the side by a surprisingly strong crowd. She wasn't hurt of course. It would have taken way more than that to injure her. But she had been wedged almost next a stand of various fruits.

Gaol heaved a largely ignored sigh.

* * *

**-gaol exits stage left-**

After a few minutes of the public praising and ogling at him the crowd slowly began to move on and continue with their day. From behind him Magnus heard a soft "Hmm."

He turned around, "Got something on your mind Gaol?" She remained silent and quickly snatched the basket of goods from Magnus' arms, "It looks like you've got your hands full Mr. Popular so I'm just giving you a hand."

Much to his annoyance, Gaol had taken most of the free food that Magnus had been so graciously given along with most of the food they had just bought. She had also taken his wallet, that kind of irked him. "My hands are perfectly fine Gaol." he couldn't put his finger on it but Gaol was acting stranger than usual.

And her level of strange was already weird enough that she thought breaking into Magnus' house and dragging him grocery shopping seemed like a good plan.

She snorted, "I didn't mean your hands were full with vegetables." With one of her free hands she pointed behind of Magnus, "I meant it looks like you're going to have your hands full with them." Magnus turned and saw that coming down the path was the same child that he had helped out earlier.

Along with about what looked like three of his friends.

"Gaol. Gaol don't you dare."

Gaol did indeed dare. Once Magnus turned around to speak with her again, she was already quite a distance away. "You do have a way with kids! Have fun Magnus!" she shouted from afar as she kept walking farther,

Magnus gave a tired huff, "What else did I expect from her?"

* * *

**-away with kids-**

"This is the guy!" the Boy bounced in excitement as his three other friends stared in awe at Magnus, He killed the bad guy who stole my money!"

The group of kids let out a large collective "Wooooah!"

Magnus flinched. Oh yeah, the Guy he punched. Well,sort of. The Guy had run into his arm and knocked himself out, but who's keeping track here? Certainly not him, and to his credit the crowd that had gathered basically stepped around him and in the ensuing chaos even Magnus forgot all about him.

In fact, pretty much everyone had forgotten about the dude. Poor Guy probably just had one of those forgetful faces.

Magnus cleared his throat to catch the attention of the children, though he didn't really need to try to do that, "He's uh- not actually dead. Just sleeping." he explained. The Tallest of children of the group laughed, "Sureeee!" She leaned into her group of friends and whispered in a not so quiet voice, "That's just fancy grown up speak for dead! Trust me!"

_'Yeesh'_, Magnus thought. Either the kid had gone through some heavy stuff or her and friends were just weird. Considering the state of the world and the age of the kid it was probably the latter.

"Hey ? Do you kill bad guys a lot?" a small voice snapped Magnus out his thoughts. "Pretty much." he was used to that type of question and he was used to giving out the same answer. Didn't matter who asked it. A skeptical look crossed the face the Middle Child, she hadn't spoken much since she arrived.

"Really? Cause my moms say that you're nothing but a guy who causes trouble!"

Well they weren't wrong. More accurately though it'd be Magnus that follows trouble. You know, because he got paid to.

"That's sort of my job kid." he explained, "Trouble happens and people pay me to stop it. It's as simple as that."

The Quietest and most Skeptical of the children gave Magnus a look of well-earned doubt while the rest were too busy staring as they had just heard the absolute coolest thing in their lives. The Boy who Magnus had helped jumped up and down, "That's so cool! when I grow up I'm gonna be just like you Magnus!" he proudly proclaimed.

"Yeah. I wouldn't do that."

The Group shared a collective look of confusion at Magnus' advice. "What do you mean ?" the Smallest Child asked, "You get to fight bad guys and save the day a lots!" The other children looked at the smallest one as they explained then they looked back at Magnus, expecting him to answer back. Magnus sighed and answered, "You kids are probably too young to understand but listen to me when I say, there's probably easier jobs out there than mine."

The group of children tilted their heads in confusing, proving Magnus' statement to be correct.

"Look, all I'm saying is that-" Magnus cut himself off before he accidentally began to talk about the more violent parts of being a mercenary, definitely not someone who was _'good with kids'_ would have done.

Gaol had no idea what she was talking about.

"Right. I'm not gonna get into the nitty gritty stuff but just, don't be exactly like me." Magnus yawned, it was getting late he supposed. "I'm not that good of a role model for anyone. Especially you guys." Opening his eyes from yawning he could see that the group was a little disappointed that their hero had told them that they shouldn't strive to be super cool and buff.

They kind of looked like they were about to cry, except for the Quiet One. Magnus couldn't read their expression at all.

"B-But we wanna beat up bad guys! Like you Magnus!" the Tallest Girl said, eyes shining bright. "We wanna be heroes Magnus! Like you!", the Boy chimed in "You're not a bad guy at all!"

They just didn't get it did they? Magnus couldn't exactly blame them. They were young and the idea of someone's job being basically, _'Hey do this thing for me regardless of it being good or evil. We'll still pay you!'_ hadn't quite manifested in their heads yet.

What else could he do but agree? "You know what?" the children starred at him nervously. "You guys are right, I'm sure you'll make a great team of heroes one day." Magnus had definitely seen his fair share of heroes working as a team and they did seem to be in high demand in the bigger cities and towns.

The group let out a bunch of cheers and screamed out potential names for their team, even the Quiet One seemed to be enjoying herself now. They brought up several questions to Magnus about how to defeat bad guys and what the perfect weapon to use was, and Magnus had no choice but to answer. In an ironic twist while Magnus tried his best to brush the children off, he managed to get them to stick like glue to him.

But he was happy they weren't crying or whining at least, so he decided to humor them.

He had also decided not to mention how he'd been hired to defeat several of said teams, he didn't want to ruin the moment.

* * *

**-cranky because youre cursed arent you?-**

With morning turning to afternoon several more shop stands started to open around the town. Magnus hurriedly walked past them looking for a good spot to eat the one sandwich Gaol had left him. You see the sellers in charge of the stands are no joke and know how to make a sale. Magnus couldn't even really blame them for it, after all everyone had to make a living somehow. '_Maybe mercenary and con artists aren't too different from each other'_, he thought.

Still didn't make him feel too bad about being annoyed by them though. Then, just as Magnus was about break clear of the danger of being caught in a trap of transactions, it happened.

He made eye contact with one of them.

Magnus flinched and the Candid Shopkeeper flashed a wide smile at him.

"You there!" she pointed so fast at Magnus that her very expensive looking necklace and pigtails almost hit her in the face. "I can tell you live an adventurous life there buddy!"

'_What could have given her that idea?'_, he thought. Maybe it was the huge Club on his back, or maybe it could have been the fact that he was a _little_ famous. Whatever the reason he wasn't going to ask why or even answer back, acknowledging them is just another way to get trapped in one of their sale pitches.

Despite Magnus' attempts to ignore the Candid Shopkeeper she kept talking to him. "Ah the silent type. Yeah I've run into your type before!" she turned around to rummage through her wares which gave Magnus the perfect opportunity to run for it. In fact, he would have made a clean getaway, if not for the very next thing the shopkeeper said.

"If its protection from the Goddess of Light you need in your travels, I've got just the thing!"

Magnus stopped in his tracks and made his fatal mistake. "Protection from Palutena? Why would I need tha-" he internally cursed at himself for answering back and hoped that she hadn't noticed his response before he managed to shut himself up.

But he had no such luck. "Have you been living under a rock?! Remember the attacks from the Goddess of Light a few years back?" Magnus didn't answer back, which gave the Candid Shopkeeper time to answer her own question. "It's been a while and its old news now. Sure,whatever. But I don't buy the whole _'protector of humanity'_ thing! And you shouldn't either!" she raised her voice so she could reach the crowd of people walking by. "No one should! Did we just FORGET she tried to kill us for three years straight!" her words fell silent on everyone but Magnus.

"What makes you so sure she's going to attack humanity again? Don't think she got us good the first time?" Magnus didn't expect an actual answer with proof, but he expected...

Well actually, he didn't know what he expected.

"How do YOU know she's not going to attack us again?!" she asked back. That was the point of asking her! He didn't!

He also had had about enough of this conversation. "Okay! just get to your point lady! I don't have all day." she smiled and held up a white stone stained with what looked like blue paint. Magnus recognized it as being a piece of marble, probably swiped from some fallen apart structure or something.

"With this little blessed stone I can guarantee you won't have any trouble with the Goddess of Light! It'll make you completely invisible to her and her little minions!" she flashed it in front of Magnus as if it was something to be proud of.

"So that's it?" the Candid Shopkeeper gulped and took a few steps backwards, noticing Magnus' sudden change in tone. "You're using peoples fear to sell you products? I bet you don't even believe in half of the things you're saying." from the look on her face Magnus could tell he was right on the money, so to speak. From the glances that Magnus caught of her stand she wasn't selling as much as had, or as much as she thought she would.

"I'll admit, it's a pretty smart idea. It's a shame business isn't exactly booming, is it?"

She didn't answer.

"Listen, I'm not going to stand here and pretend I'm a paragon of morality. but you seem smart and I'm guessing you're smart enough to figure out some other thing to sell that doesn't depend on how scared someone is."

The two stood in silence with only the sound of the passing crowd until she spoke up. "I usually sell other things. I thought this might make me more money and I'd have to work less for it but..."her hand closed in on the piece of chalk, "You're right. I've only sold a handful and it felt bad-" She hesitated before continuing, "-it felt bad lying. But it was worth a shot."

Magnus turned to walk forward, he didn't need to hear anymore.

A Peppy voice yelled behind him, "I guess it's back to the selling pumpkins for me!"

* * *

**-a stray dog named...what?-**

"Magnus!"

He turned around at the call of his name. It wasn't a surprise to hear it at this point. What was the surprise is what came after the cry of his name.

"Stay boy!"

At the sound of **that** all Magnus could say was an "Excuse me?" Suddenly he felt something rub against his leg. Looking down he came face to face with a small, brown, white and abnormally long dog.

With a very slobbery chicken leg in its mouth.

"Magnus!" the call came again, and this time Magnus saw that it came from the owner of a local butcher shop. She had run out of her store, a knife still in her hand.

"Magnus! you put that down right now mister!"

It didn't take a genius to put two and two together to figure out that she was referring to the dog.

It also didn't take a genius to see that the real Magnus happened to also be standing next to the dog Magnus.

"Ack!" the Butcher dropped her knife to the ground, both Magnuses watching it fall. "I didn't see you there Magnus! I-I hope you didn't think I was referring to-Oh! How embarrassing!" she bent down and picked up the knife she dropped. "It's fine. Don't get so worked up about it." It really was nothing, it's not like he was bothered by the fact that a dog happened to have the same name as him. People like dogs and people liked Magnus. Sure, it was weird but it was just another reminder that he was famous around these parts. It came with the territory.

'_Or maybe Magnus is just a popular name' _he briefly thought.

"You see, that Dog there recently came into town and a bunch of the locals found it responded to a lot of different names." the Butcher explained while cleaning her knife with her dirty apron. Magnus looked down at the dog, "And one of its names is Magnus?" he asked. The Dog's tail wagged erratically, recognizing one of its many nicknames. Magnus gave him a questionable look.

The Butcher laughed, "Yes, I suppose so. It actually has a lot of other names like Spot, Toby, Thomas, Kirby..." She began to trail off. In the middle of her list she suddenly looked like she remembered something of upmost importance, "Ack! Wait a minute! Magnus!"

Magnus looked at her, "Oh, Not you Magnus."

They both turned their attention to Magnus. Who had been obediently sitting in place happily wagging its tail. "Magnus you know that meat isn't for you! So give it back already!" the Butcher yelled holding out her hand. And despite it being made quite clear she was talking to the dog, human Magnus couldn't help but feel a small sense of unease at his name being in that sentence.

Magnus, the good dog that he is, happily opened his mouth and let the drool covered chicken leg fall to the floor.

A breif moment of silence followed. "You...You know what Magnus you can keep it." She silently walked back into her store, never making it clear as to which Magnus she was referring to.

Magnus could only hope she had meant the other Magnus.

* * *

**-"do you think he's gonna eat that?" "shh! shut up pi-"-**

Magnus had finally made it to the center of The Seaside Town. In the center was a large fountain dedicated to the God of the sea, Poseidon. He hadn't personally ever met the guy but if he was anything like Pit's goddess, he didn't think he'd be a fan of him.

He took a seat on the edges of the fountain and pulled out the sandwich he had been gifted earlier, the only one Gaol hadn't rudely taken.

Before he could even take his first bite, he heard a whine. There in front of him the familiar brown and white dog. It was of course Magnus, or Magnus Two as Magnus decided to refer to him from now on. The dog could clearly remember more than one name, so what was the harm of one more?

The dog continued to whine, its eyes growing big. Magnus gave a defeated sigh, "I get it. I get it! You don't need to get all weepy about it, here." Magnus Two gave a bark, happily spinning in place.

Magnus feed him a small piece of ham, the first of many.

* * *

**-betrayal-**

Being a mercenary came with a lot of opportunities to experience a various amount of betrayals. Be it for power, recognition, sometimes even love. The most common type of betrayal of course came from greed.

Mercenaries have to make a living somehow.

Magnus himself, was no different. If you asked him how many times his fellow mercenaries stabbed him in the back, he'd have to grab a piece of paper and start writing them down to be careful not to mix up who betrayed him and for what reason. Even Gaol had stabbed him the back a few times, too many times for him to count.

In Gaol's defense, Magnus was not completely innocent. For as much as he didn't want to admit he had played into the stereotype of greedy mercenary far too much for his liking.

Magnus thought he learned to be more careful the more time went on, especially after that one time. But after trusting an angel enough to fight alongside him, trusting him enough to believe him that he'd been gone for three years and trusting him enough to let him control his body.

He felt that maybe, just maybe. He'd gotten a little too trusting.

That same familiar feeling came back as Magnus helplessly watched Magnus Two run into a nearby alleyway. With Magnus' sandwich in its slobbery mouth. Probably not feeling a single shred of remorse.

He could have sworn he felt a single tear fall down his face.

* * *

**-humans are weird like? making me write serious stuff who do you think you are?-**

His sandwich? Gone.

His stomach? Almost running on empty.

Magnus? In a pretty bitter mood if you asked him.

And if you asked him, he'd probably have to think twice before thinking of killing you on the spot for asking. Since he was now officially lunchless and aimless he decided to on the fountain edges until he spotted Gaol to tell her that it was getting late and that he should be getting home. The thought of just ditching her crossed his mind once or twice, but he reconsidered quickly after realizing she also took his wallet along with his free lunches from before.

After everything that had happened in the past hour and a half, he was grateful for some peace and quiet.

It also gave him time to think about his current situation. How he hadn't been getting enough sleep. He hadn't wanted to tell Gaol that she was right about him having a lot on his mind. But after today he was positive, he was **NEVER** going to tell her now.

Because what Magnus' mind was constantly thinking about was the possibility of another war between the Gods. And if he told Gaol that that's what he had been worried about, he was positive that she would drag the both of them into the nearest temple to yell at the Gods directly. Something that would have made his worries more likely to happen than ease them.

Magnus gave a sigh and crossed his arms. He had no idea why he suddenly came down with these worries.

But he had his suspicions.

It was only a few weeks ago that a large storm had hit The Seaside Town and along with the storm came news that the waves were threatening to engulf the town. Fortunately, while things looked like they were heading south fast the storm soon subsided, and the town was saved. The next day however Magnus heard whispers of how the storm had been a punishment sent by Poseidon, the Sea God, as a warning of worse things to come.

What were they being punished for? No one had any clue. Which lead to the discussions around the theories of what they had all done to angel Poseidon. But with no clear answers in sight it was quickly forgotten about, except by Magnus apparently.

He knew firsthand that the Gods were capable of starting wars or deciding to collectively punish humans whenever they pleased. Viridi the Goddess of Nature had made it very clear that she had been opposed to the Wish Seed War from the start when she dropped a huge explosion on one of the first battles. Magnus gave a nervous smile, he thought about how thankfully for him he hadn't heard of the Wish Seed back then. If he had he would have probably been one of the first people on the scene.

And probably wouldn't have been sitting here now people watching in boredom.

There were various other Gods of course but Magnus had never been interested in learning about them at any point in his life, in fact he hated them for a good few years of his life.

As a result, he didn't know much about this Poseidon person, or even if he had been responsible for the storm. In rare move in his favor though Magnus had the luxury of having a direct contact to the Gods himself. But as luck would have it, that contact happened to be a happy-go-lucky and pretty dim 13 year old boy. So he wasn't that much help unless he asked Pit about the Goddess of Light.

And speaking of, then there was Palutena. She'd defended humanity for thousands of years but suddenly without warning she had started attacking humans too. Then as suddenly as she began, she stopped. Give or take three years. The worst part was that no one knew if would happen again, and there was no way they could avoid it again. No human had a definitive answer to why she had suddenly decided to turn on them.

Not even Magnus.

The next time he was able to talk to Pit, his only direct contact to the Gods themselves. He had asked what happened those three long years to cause Palutena to _'lose her mind'_, so to speak. Back then Pit didn't seem to be up to talk about that, and Magnus didn't want to pry where he clearly wasn't meant to. But now he was itching to ask Pit about how things were going up there. Hopefully all the Gods were happy and content enough to let humanity live their lives death and incident free. Which was a pretty messed up way of living now that Magnus thought about it.

Thankfully Magnus didn't have to think long about it because in the distance Gaol's voice called out for him, "Magnus! Magnus! I finally found you! It took long enough!" Magnus stood and headed her way.

"Where were you even looking? I've been here for at least half an hour, tops!"

He had been there for ten minutes.

Gaol had finally ran up to where Magnus was standing speaking out a sentence that always guaranteed to lift Magnus' mood.

"I've got us a new job!"

* * *

**-my names dark lord gaol, i never believed in ghosts until i- **

"What's the job this time Gaol?" Magnus crossed his arms and spoke firmly at her, "And it better not be worse than the time you volunteered us to go help at a farm in the middle of summer just because you'd thought we would both get free samples!"

Not her proudest moment she would admit. Gaol held up her hands and spoke directly and with confidence.

"We're going to fight ghosts!"

"No. We are not."

That wasn't quite the answer Gaol had expected. She shook her head in disappointment, directed at Magnus and herself. She had no one to blame but herself, of course Magnus wouldn't be down to fight the incorporeal forms of the undead. Who was she kidding he was always such a boring oaf.

After deciding she had done enough of insulting of Magnus in her own head she proudly proclaimed, "Well then, I guess only one of us is getting paid today."

She turned and began to walk away toward the towns exit. The urge to strike down Gaol right there and now was overwhelming for Magnus, because he knew he was playing right into her hands. He knew that she knew that he wouldn't let Gaol head off and take money for herself that Magnus could also earn.

Their competitive nature was always their own downfall and were both well aware of this.

"Alright! I'm coming! Wait up!" he ran to catch up to her and in his sudden frustration he didn't seem to notice the lack of groceries that Gaol did not have in her hands.

* * *

**-another boring walk, what a rut-**

It was close to sundown when Magnus and Gaol nearly made their way to The Small Village that Gaol had run into earlier. Both mercenaries had been rather quiet on their way to the spot, until Gaol decided to speak up. "You know, this village is made up of people that left a Decimated Town. One of many if you recall." Magnus remained silent, "That's where you were sent to kill that angel, wasn't it?"

Magnus broke his silence "It was." Gaol stopped and gave a snort, "They hired you to kill him and you managed to save him instead? Talk about a flubbing a job huh?"

There was more to **that** story of course.

Magnus was quick to defend himself, "Hey! it's not like I set out to save him! I just happened to be there and good enough to be used as a human puppet for a few minutes." It was an odd experience for sure. being controlled by someone else but still being able to feel where and what he was doing. An experience he'd rather not happen again, if he could help it.

"I guess you could say the angel makes a better Magnus than you do Magnus." Gaol saw Magnus give a heavy frown but she didn't back down, "After all it was him that technically beat himself up wasn't it? You were just the audience!" After deciding he wasn't going to take this lying down or standing up Magnus finally fought back, "I did help for your information. You should have seen Angelface's fighting strategy. Without my help the kid wouldn't have lasted a second!"

Gaol knew he had a point, she didn't know Pit very well but she had fought him once or twice now. Actually she had fought both Pit and Magnus at the same time once, and while she knew Magnus' fighting style hadn't changed from _'be careful but hit them HARD'_ she hadn't expected to see him show up with help. That help being an excitable kid with the battle strategy of _'hit em'! hit em'! hit em'! dodge! back to hitting!_' of all things was also completely unexpected too.

Gaol decided to take his word for it. Word in The Seaside Town was that the same angel also managed to defeat the God of the Underworld so maybe Magnus was just a tad bit jealous. She could work with that.

"Soooo? Since it was _'Angelface'_ that did your work for you? Shouldn't he have gotten paid instead?"

"Gaol shut up."

* * *

**-i have a feeling we're not alone-**

The Small Village was true to its name, in that it wasn't all that big and there weren't many people living in it. The Village Leader explained the purpose of The Small Village had been to travel around and look for new homes. Considering their old homes were most likely destroyed or were just too much of a bummer to go back to. Now that the group had been traveling for almost seven years now their numbers had drastically decreased leaving the group free to settle down wherever they pleased now. Which they decided to do quite a distance from The Seaside Town.

Evidently, they also may have quite the ghost problem.

Magnus and Gaol were directed to a campfire that had been set up and eventually after a few minutes of waiting, meet with The Village Leader.

Who had quite a bit to say about the ghost problem. "Every sunset it's the same thing! Over and over!" the Leader yelled while flailing his arms around, and from the looks of the bags under his eyes he probably wasn't getting enough sleep either. Magnus could relate. Except for the ghost part he was still up in the air about that.

The Leader continued, "The strange noises go on all night! Then there's the yelling and missing food from our storage!"

Magnus could do nothing but awkwardly sit and listen at the millions of complaints that were being thrown his and Gaol's way from the relatively young leader of the village. Meanwhile Gaol nodded understandably at every word that came out of the Leader's mouth, trying her best to make a good impression. Magnus leaned in to whisper, "You know we get paid either way. there's no need to suck up, right?" Gaol responded by saying "I see." instead of nodding her head. Magnus sighed in defeat.

Finally, it seemed that the long but brief explanation had come to an end. "IT HAS to be ghosts there's no other explanation!" the Village Leader stooped talking and suddenly looked confused. He stopped to think for a minute before speaking up again, "None that we all can think of at least." Laughing nervously, he turned to face Magnus and Gaol directly, "That's why we called you two! You both have experience with the Underworld Forces right?!"

Gaol laughed nervously, "You could...You could say that." Meanwhile Magnus leaned back and whispered to himself, "Is it ghosts or Underworld monsters? Make up your mind." While he hadn't intended for Gaol to hear him she nonetheless whispered back, "Is there a difference Magnus? you know Ornes, those are made of human souls you know?"

"Pretty sure if it was an Orne everyone here would be dead. Including us."

"Ornes can turn invisible Magnus. That's how they get you."

"Um?" Magnus and Gaol turned from whispering to each other to look at the very confused town leader. "Should I go so you can talk about it or...?" before either mercenary could answer the question the Village Leader had left, leaving Magnus and Gaol sitting alone.

Gaol made her way closer to the campfire. It had started to get late and as a result it started to get colder "He seems nervous. doesn't he?" granted he had a good reason to get nervous, but she thought they were all blowing this out of proportion.

Magnus spoke up with his first theory, "Probably an animal."

"That's what they all say."

"Yeah, they all say that, cause it's the right answer!"

Before either of them could propose another explanation for the mysterious events the Village Leader came back into the scene. "I forgot! before i go and leave you, I should probably explain more about this whole situation!" Magnus gave him a puzzled look, "Weird. I thought the whole ghost story you said earlier was explanation enough."

It unfortunately was not, because as the Village Leader explained the already established knowledge that most of the people here were from one of the Decimated Town...s. He also added that there were whispers of other people from that town also having been seen around the area.

People that had been long declared dead and people that definitely had a good reason to be mad.

Gaol and Magnus looked at one another in silence, whatever explanations they could have come up with before completely left their heads and was replaced by tense apprehension at the idea of fighting vengeful spirits of humans. "But you guys probably dealt with less scarier things than that right? " both remained silent but were trying their very hardest to answer back with a _'yes'_. But nothing came out. "Not to mention, you were the angel exterminator back then too right!" the Village Leader addressed Magnus alone, which caught him a tad by surprise

"That thing back than was more terrifying than these ghosts now! At least that's what I believe."

Magnus couldn't help but think what Pit would have thought about being compared to a ghost. The kid probably would have taken it as a well-meaning compliment.

Clapping his hands together the Village Leader spoke up, "Right! Well. You guys can wait out in the fields, and I'll give you a signal and point to where we hear the most noise! Great? Great!" he then took his hasty retreat to who knows where.

Gaol wanted to punch herself for taking this job. On the bright side they were getting paid well. Not that she told Magnus how much they were getting paid. It slipped her mind, honestly.

Meanwhile, Magnus wanted to punch Gaol.

* * *

**-gaol makes an offer magnus cant refuse-**

A sly smile crossed Gaol's face, "Well Magnus. What if I make you an offer you can't refuse?"

"I doubt you can. But hey, I'll give you a chance." he gestured at her to continue explaining her offer and continue she did.

"Look you and I both know this uh...whatever is bothering them probably isn't ghosts right?" Magnus nodded and Gaol continued, "And ghosts from seven years ago? Please, all those humans have probably reincarnated by now."

"Sounds like you're trying to convince yourself more than you're trying to convince me."

A loud "HA!" was all Gaol had to answer him with until she said, "Please Magnus, I'm not worried about anything! Just about how much were getting paid for this nonsense." At Gaol's words Magnus suddenly noticed that Gaol had never brought up exactly how much they were getting paid. Something Gaol also noticed that he had noticed.

"Ah w-well we better get going to where he told us to be! See you there Gaol-I m-mean Magnus!" rounding the corner Gaol made a quick and graceful exit, after almost tripping over a campfire or two. Magnus was well familiar with this song and dance, she had always done this whenever they had worked together before. Gaol would hide the real amount that they were getting paid in order to get the bigger half of the payment.

'_But not this time'_, he thought. This time would be different! This time...they were sure to die fighting a bunch of ghosts or a wild bear. Magnus clenched his fists and resigned to his fate."Gaol slow down and don't go dying without me!" he followed her all the while making sure apologize for whatever Gaol had knocked over in her _'graceful retreat'._

* * *

**-third and fourth thoughts-**

The sun began to set, and the full gravity of the situation hit Magnus like a truck. Whatever those were.

Fighting the underworld forces was one thing but fighting the spirits of the departed? That was fighting fellow humans.

Of course, he had no problem with fighting people that deserved a beating or even ones that didn't. But these sounded like a bunch of souls that were wronged in life and just wanted revenge. Or to be noticed? He wasn't sure what a ghost would want and he was in no hurry to find out. He had to be honest with himself, none of these thoughts made sense. Magnus had even forgotten the most likely explanation of it being an animal he had given Gaol earlier. Trying to forget his anxieties he turned to look at Gaol who seemed to also lose her haughty attitude from before. Instead she almost looked as deep in thought as Magnus.

Before they knew it, the sun had set and The Small Village had dimmed their lights. That was their signal to begin investigating, and fighting if need be.

"Good luck you two!", The Small Village leader shouted from a good ten feet away.

Gaol grabbed her blade and gave Magnus a nervous smile, "After you, 'Angel Exterminator'."

* * *

**-WARNING WARNING-**

Gaol and Magnus stood in wait near the spot where The Small Village leader had directed them. It wasn't far from where the rest of the humans slept. The only things of note were a couple of large pale white rocks that looked like they didn't belong there and a couple of bushes that threatened to smother said rocks.

Overall not an ideal place for a ghost, or a group of ghosts to hang out.

"So." Gaol broke the silence that had been haunting both of them for a few minutes now, "What do you think is really scaring these villagers?" Magnus thought he come up with more reasonable explanations for this phenomenon and before he could even consider one Gaol answered her own question, "I bet you're right. It's something normal, like a wild animal. Or a rabid animal."

"That doesn't sound that normal Gaol!"

"You know what I mean. What I'm saying is that there's no ghosts here Magnus."

Suddenly both humans caught sight of a white flash near the large rocks. Neither of them spoke, both drew their weapons and prepared themselves for a confrontation with whatever had made the flash.

Be it a collection of human souls in agony or a deer on death's doorstep.

Then the bushes started to move. Magnus looked at Gaol and nodded, Gaol nodded back and both mercenaries slowly walked up to the bushes in an attempt to sneak up on ghosts of all things.

"What's the plan?" Gaol whispered, holding her blade tight. Magnus hesitated to answer

His grip tightened on his Club. What they were about to fight, surely their weapons would be enough right? His Club and Gaol's Blade worked on the Underworld Forces, so surely they would work on ghosts. right?

He quietly answered her, "We wing it. Let's just hope it goes better for you than last time." He knew it was a reckless to just wing it but credit where credit was due, he was sure he and Gaol were the first mercenaries hired to killed already dead humans. So there really was no real game plan.

Gaol swallowed hard and readied her blade. Both had reached the front of the bush. Magnus reached towards the now shaking bush.

A humanoid figure jumped out, Magnus raised his club and Gaol gasped.

A familiar shrill voice rang out.

"Heya Magnus!"

* * *

**\- farewell...stupid teenagers with wings-**

"Hey Angelface." Magnus said lowering his club, not missing a beat. "Hey Crow Angelface." Pittoo growled and descended deeper into the shrubbery they both had been hiding in. Pit paid him no mind and greeted Magnus back, "It sure is a surprise seeing you two here!"

Gaol chimed in, "I think the bigger surprise is seeing you two here honestly." Both angels jumped in surprise. It seemed that neither one of them had noticed Gaol standing beside Magnus. Something she might have felt insulted by if she hadn't almost personally known one of them.

Pit greeted her with a smile and a wave, "Oh! Hi Dark Lord Gaol! I didn't see you there!"

"How many times now have I told you angel? It's just Gaol." Pit nervously lowered his hand and laughed. Pittoo on the other hand gave a sly laugh and stood up from the bush, "Yeah Puppit, keep up with the rest of us!" Of course, Pittoo also had no idea either that her name was just Gaol but it's not like Pit was smart enough to figure that out. At least, that's what he thought before Pit called out his bluff.

That's how both angels begin to argue, dangerously loudly. "Hey. Hey! Keep it down you two. You don't want the humans to hear you." Magnus whispered to them, gesturing at them to lower back into their hiding spots.

Pit gasped and quickly hid back in the leaves, while Pittoo just scoffed at his twins willingness to obey orders so quickly. _'He really is anyone's little puppet, isn't he?' _he thought. Gaol glanced at Pit then at Dark Pit, "That means you too dark angel." Pittoo grumbled various unintelligible insults but ultimately ended up ducking next to Pit.

Now it was time to deal with the real problem. "So, what are you two troublemakers doing here anyway?" Magnus asked hoping, **PRAYING** that the Gods hadn't started another war.

Both angels looked at each other and sighed. "The truth is Pittoo heard these crazy rumors about a ghost haunting this area!" Pit practically glowed with excitement "And! And we've been coming to check it out!" Dark Pit nodded enthusiastically. "You wouldn't believe how much convincing it took for me to get Puppit here to sneak off from Palutena for just ten minutes." the angels were practically beaming now.

"We haven't seen it yet! But we've been coming here a lot so we gotta see it one day!" both said in unison

Magnus and Gaol both gave the other a look of concern. Neither of them wanted to ask the obvious question but it seemed someone had to. They compromised in asking together, "And...? How long have you two been coming here?"

Pit happily flapped his wings, "We've been coming here every day for a week straight!"

And there it was.

* * *

**-like taking candy from a baby. WHICH IS FINE BY ME-**

"And have you two been taking food from the humans too?" Magnus hoped the answer would be a _'yes'_ but he suspected that Pit liked humans too much to actually steal from them.

Pit, with a hand on his heart answered, "Of course not! I would never!" Dark Pit with a half a bagel in his mouth answered, "Yeah, I've taken some. Pits eaten some of it too."

Gaol had to hold Pit back from fighting his brother. Who was too busy eating a bagel to notice, or care.

* * *

**-the chattering lack of common sense-**

As soon as Gaol and Magnus explained most of the situation to the angels, Pit had tried to go apologize to the humans directly.

"Angelface, you can't possibly think that that's a good idea." Magnus said, shoving Pit back into the bush after he had wriggled his way out the first and second time. Weakly fighting against him Pit made his case, "I have to go tell them I'm sorry for scaring them!" He nervously smiled and Dark Pit frowned knowing full well what would follow, "Right Pittoo?"

"They're right Pit."

Pit smiled, glad that his favorite and only brother agreed with him, "Yeah see? Pittoo agrees with-WHAT?!"

Pittoo looked away from Pit in an attempt to not see the total look of betrayal he knew Pit was giving him. "Your-um, brother is right angel. Messing with those humans is just asking for trouble." Pit stared at Gaol with a look of complete confusion.

He just didn't get it.

"If I just apologize they'll just be mad for a while, right? Then they'll get that it was me and Pittoo and stop being scared!"

Both humans had purposely failed to mention the very important fact of where the group of humans were from and who they were. They both feared that as soon as the villagers from the Decimated Town caught sight of Pit, or even his twin they would break out into an uncontrollable frenzy.

"We just don't want to see either of you get hurt, that's all." Pit gave Magnus and even more confused look of confusion, mixed with a look that seemed like Magnus' statement had offended him.

"Why would I get hurt?! I'm not going to fight the humans! That's against the Angel Code of Conduct!" Pit crossed his arms in anger. Gaol gave a sad smile and whispered to Magnus, "He's a real piece of work isn't he?" Magnus answered back, "You have no idea."

Behind his brother, Pittoo pulled his hair in frustration.

* * *

**-pit falls to peer pressure-**

The plan Gaol had proposed after failing to convince Pit to pack up and leave sounded crazy to Magnus. But he had to be honest, the more she explained it the more it made sense.

"Alright so listen up." Gaol grabbed a fragile stick and began to draw in the dirt. The first thing she drew was a crude drawing of Magnus. "Did you draw me? Is that supposed to be me?! I don't look like that!" the drawing did look more 'stickly' than Magnus did so he wasn't wrong. "What do you mean Magnus? it's like I'm starring at your own dark twin." Pit and Pittoo giggled in the background and Magnus gave a reluctant sigh.

Gaol then proceeded to draw herself with massive muscles.

"Okay here's me and here's Magnus. The first step is that we're going to go wake up the villagers. Warning them of the ghost that's about to ambush them." she looked up from her drawing to see that Pit was looking a bit confused. Maybe she was talking to fast? "You still following me here angel?" she asked and that seemed to caught him by surprise. "Yeah of course! What do I look like, Pittoo?" this response granted him an elbow to the ribs from Pittoo.

Gaol chuckled while Magnus didn't find it funny at all. "Hey knuckleheads. Pipe down and let Gaol finish." both angels stopped fighting and Pit apologized to Gaol for interrupting her, ignoring the fact that she had interrupted herself. She continued, "Now you two, have the most important job of all." This piqued the interest of both Pits. And Magnus.

"You two will be our ghost!"

Pit immediately rose to his feet and darted behind Magnus. "You're gonna kill us?!" he said with panic in his voice and everywhere else.

Gaol gave a small laugh. "If it comes to that." she said staring Pit dead in the eyes.

Pit screamed.

Magnus quickly covered his mouth which wasn't easy considering Pit was almost right behind him, "Gaol quit it! You're going to give him a heart attack AND blow our cover!" Gaol tried to explain herself in more detail but kept laughing too much to get a word out. Meanwhile, Pit's arguably more cool headed brother wasn't doing much to help the situation as he was also too busy laughing to calm Pit down.

Once Magnus managed to calm the party down Gaol broke down the plan so Pit could understand his role. After a few minutes he understood perfectly, unfortunately while he understood the plan there was now another problem entirely.

He didn't want to do it.

"Wow Puppit isn't not following orders for once. That's new." Dark Pit's comment caused Pit to try to punch Pittoo in the arm, but Dark Pit successfully dodged his punch which just made Pit even madder. But not mad enough to try again. The pair of mercenaries looked at both angels and sighed. Gaol brought up the obvious, "Why don't you want to help angel? Any particular reason?" Pit looked up at Gaol, surprised she decided to ask, "I... I'd feel bad tricking the humans like that! Why do we have to do that? Can't we just explain that me and Pittoo were scaring them? That seems easier?"

Even though Pit's plan in theory was a million times easier sounding than Gaol's plan, Magnus sadly knew that Pit's plan would not work. It didn't matter how sorry he was about it. Before he could shoot down Pit's suggestion Gaol interrupted him with her own.

"Listen little angel." he was listening. Both angels were to Magnus' surprise.

"I know you feel bad about scaring these people but trust me. When they see the thing they're afraid of beat and they know for a fact it's GONE, they'll feel more relieved than you know."

Pit looked down and played with his bracelets, it was clear to everyone present he was thinking over what Gaol had said. Pittoo put his hand on Pit's shoulder, startling him. "Listen Pitstain I'm not exactly crazy over this plan either, but if it makes you feel better I'll help you with it." under his breath he whispered to himself, "It's not like we have much of a choice at this point." Magnus spoke up as well, "Angelface the sooner you agree the sooner you can get back to your Goddess and then this whole mess can be behind us." His thoughts secretly contradicted his words however as he secretly hoped he would have some time left over to ask Pit some important questions.

Gaol shrugged, "Also, this way me and Magnus will still get paid." Pit shot her a rare furious glare. Magnus laughed along with Gaol. "What?! She's right! We don't work for free Angelface!" both mercenaries laughed loudly, forgetting they were supposed to be quiet.

Pit closed his eyes and sighed, he held out his hand to Gaol who had stopped laughing in surprise, "Okay. I'm in."

* * *

**-i think i ve hit a metephorical brick wall-**

Back at the Small Village, Magnus went around waking up the humans so they could be witness to the _"great battle"_ that was scheduled to happen in a few minutes. In order to wake them up he came up the excuse that Gaol had been injured by the "evil" spirit and he needed their help in order to save her.

What a bunch of regular villagers were going to do to help her he had no clue. The whole lie was Gaol's idea to give her time to make a large enough clearing for the fight to take place in. To his surprise the villagers were willing and ready to fight something they were completely terrified of in order to help someone they had just met.

It really was admirable.

* * *

**-phantom pains-**

"Pittoo remind me again. What am I supposed to do?"

Dark Pit poked his head out from behind a rather large rock he had decided to hide behind of.

"I already went over it like twelve times Pitstain!"

Pit gave a rather large sigh, but if you were to have looked at him you wouldn't have even been able to tell it was him. He looked more like an angel that was hastily covered in a red fabric that Dark Pit had quickly swiped from a laundry line than his usual self.

"I know. But why do **I** have to do this?" it's not like Pit didn't like the idea of playing pretend to scare someone, but that someone happened to be humans and he still felt that at this point he'd bothered them enough. Dark Pit on the other hand, had no such concerns.

"Because I don't want to."

Pit couldn't really argue with him his reason was completely valid and unarguable.

"I guess that's fair" he said taking a seat and waiting for Magnus and Gaol's signal. Though he really wished Pittoo had cut some eye holes for him to see through.

* * *

**-you can feel a chill in the air...AH WHO OPENED THE WINDOW-**

A cold chill blew past the area where Pit and Dark Pit had decided to hide. Pit tugged at the blanket that covered him in an attempt to warm himself up.

Oddest thing though, Dark Pit felt no such breeze.

* * *

**-Ghosts Play to the Audience-**

The figurative stage had been set, all the actors were in their places and the audience was ready to watch the show.

The plan, as it stood had a chance of working if all the actors played their parts and the audience paid attention. But not too much attention.

Gaol knew that she and Magnus would do their jobs perfectly, but she had doubts on how well Pit would be able to pull off a ghost. And even worse, Magnus had reminded her shortly before they rallied the Village that the rumor was that it was a multiple number of ghosts that were supposedly haunting the area, not just one. A detail that may have slipped Gaol's mind when constructing her "100 percent going to work plan."

Hopefully the angels would pull through.

Suddenly a large breeze blew through, startling everyone. Several of the villagers screamed and started to run away from the scene. Thankfully the Village Leader was able to calm them down and told them to huddle together for safety. Gaol had to give him some credit, despite being dumb enough to hire mercenaries for to fight ghosts he really did care for his people.

"Gaol heads up!" Magnus' shout was enough to get her attention. She turned to face the large white rocks they had told the angels to hide behind. Gripping her Blade, she prayed to whatever God handled theatrics and asked desperately for their plan to work. At the same time, Magnus glanced at his Club and hoped that he wouldn't end up severely hurting one of the angels.

Palutena would most currently kill him if he did that.

In fact, she'd probably kill all of them. He threw that thought out quickly and went back to focus on the battle, or more accurately an impromptu play everyone involved doubted would work.

All doubt from his mind was thrown out the window when the _'ghost'_ made their entrance. From the rocks emerged a red cladded figure. The cloth that Pittoo had taken was now ripped up at the bottom giving it a worn out and spoooky~ look, according to him. "Huh. Angelface actually makes a convincing ghost don't you think?" Magnus whispered to Gaol.

"Stay focused Magnus. We can't afford to mess up." she said back, her eyes focused on the ghost.

Magnus was seconds away from telling Gaol that he was focused when the villagers screamed again. He turned his attention back to the ghost and saw that from the red cloth there had emerged an arm.

An arm that certainly did not belong to Pit.

"Reaper!" was all Gaol could say before all hell broke loose. The ghost shot out energy from its arm, from the energy Reapettes took form. Going straight for the villagers and the mercenaries.

"Magnus!" Gaol's yell managed to bring back Magnus to reality, he swung his club at the Reapettes who instantly dissolved into nothing. "What's the plan now Gaol?!" as of that moment in time Gaol did not have a plan. "Well! I don't really have one right now! What about you Magnus? Feel free to shout any out!" Magnus stared at the ghost and Gaol. He saw how she tried to slice a Reapette with her Blade but only managed to ward it away for a while before it came back.

Something about her Blade was just too weak to take them out, unlike his Club.

"Okay! I got one!" he yelled, Gaol turned her attention from the Reapettes and towards Magnus, "I'll deal with the little guys! You go for the leader! That sound good?" Gaol said nothing, responding by running forward and toward the red figure.

That only left one lose end.

"Don't just stand there get out of here!" Magnus slashed at the Reapette that had headed for the group. The Small Village leader stood his ground, "No! What if you get hurt! We can't leave you like this! This is our problem we got you into this mess!" Magnus sliced down another Reapette, "Yeah real noble of you! Look I get it but nothing good will come out of you all dying!" he slammed his club down, hard. "So GET! GOING!" at the sound of Magnus' demands the villagers and their leader retreated back into the village.

Magnus hoped they wouldn't be back.

The red figure, which Gaol was convinced now was neither angel, stood its ground. It began firing purple energy shoots at Gaol, who was rapidly moving closer to it. Gaol was positive that it would only take one slice from her Blade to defeat it. After all what are ghosts but piles of air right? And in the event that it was an Orne, slicing it with her Blade wouldn't count as touching it and hopefully she would scare it away.

That's all she had right now. Hope, a Blade and lots of confidence.

Dodging shots left and right she noticed that the shots were now only targeting her. It looked like as long as it was shooting at her it didn't have the chance to shoot Reapettes at the Village and Magnus. She took this opportunity to sprint forward, hoping that all the ghost's attention would be drawn to her.

Once she was a few feet away from the ghost she took a leap forward and with her Blade gripped with a deathly hold she slashed at the ghost.

She hit her mark and the ghost let out a shrill yell.

Gaol's heart skipped a beat.

* * *

**-hey there demons its me, ya girl-**

Despite the rather large hit that the ghost had taken the sheet remained obscuring it. Not that Gaol cared about that at that point. "Angel! what are you doing?!" that wasn't the exact question she had wanted to ask him, but that is unfortunately what she said.

Pit remained silent save for a few shaky breaths.

Meanwhile, Magnus had done his job of dealing with the Reapettes. Which caused most of the humans to return as the danger was mostly gone. Now all Magnus could do was watch from afar and keep the humans from getting any closer. And because of his vantage point he had no idea the ghost was a fake and Gaol's plan was working to a T, "Come on Gaol...finish it."

Gaol stood frozen in front of the ghost and he could only hope that she hadn't gotten possessed or something.

Wouldn't that be awful?

As Gaol hastily thought about her next step she heard Pit finally speak up, "What are you waiting for!?" The voice that spoke to her was so out of nowhere that it surprised Gaol enough to assume her attack stance again. "Pit?" she asked, not quite sure as to what answer she was hoping to get from him.

"Hurry up and finish it! Dark Lord Gaol!"

At the sound of that Gaol slashed him once again, this time with less of an intent to kill and more of an intent to scare him. Whatever the case, this time Pit fell. The cloak flying away and revealing that for some reason Pit indeed have a reaper arm for, well, an arm. Gaol made a mental note to ask about that later. Finally Pit fell backwards and into the bushes, onto something that let out a quiet "Ow!"

Save for that 'ow', the battlefield was silent.

The fight was finished.

Magnus and Gaol stood frozen, their backs to the group of humans that had been watching the whole battle. Both hoped that Gaol's ridiculous plan had worked and that villagers were fooled by their act.

With her back still facing the humans Gaol started to slowly make her way back to Magnus. He whispered to her, "You think it worked?" she didn't answer, giving him a worried expression as a response instead. Neither of them wanted to turn around and see if the plan worked.

Through clenched teeth she asked him back, "Do you think it worked Magnus?"

* * *

**-to make a long story short-**

It did.

* * *

**-thanks i hated it-**

The crowd of humans cheered in unison for Magnus and Gaol. It almost scared them, just how happy they were about the whole incident. Now the two mercenaries were just a little afraid they were going to be considered certified ghost fighters now. They could only hope that the people would keep their mouths shut about the whole thing.

Lest they risk being cursed.

The Small Village Leader ran up to both and graciously thanked them. Shaking their hands, he asked however they could repay them for getting rid of the human spirits that had haunted them for so long.

Magnus spoke up first, "Well you could pay us. Let's start there."

* * *

**-a hotdoga lunch-**

Because of what the mercenaries had done for the Small Village they had not only earned a monetary reward, but they were offered food as well. Magnus and Gaol were more than willing than take them up on their offer but uncharacteristically decided on only taking a handful of food.

And it wasn't even for them.

Once the coast was clear and both humans could make a clean getaway, they made their way to where they had last seen the angels. It turned out both angels had done as they were told and waited for them by the large rocks, Magnus was actually surprised that Dark Pit had listened to them and stuck around. He seemed like the type to prefer to work alone and Magnus was more than familiar with that type of person.

"So how did you make that breeze happen Angelface?" Magnus asked, his mouth full of the lunch both angels had brought for themselves and decided to share with both humans. He sure had no idea what a 'Hot Dog' was before today but he quickly decided that he loved it. Pit opened his mouth to answer but was quickly upstaged by Pittoo. "All I had to do was use the Orre Club and swing it at you guys from a far enough place. It was my plan and it worked perfectly, unlike Pitstain's over here." a white wing smacked Pittoo in the face, causing him to drop his chicken wing.

Pittoo's statement caught Gaol's attention. "You had a plan angel?" Pit turned his attention from bickering with his brother to Gaol. "Yeah! I did!" he stopped to think, "At least...I'm pretty sure I did." Before anyone could ask Pit as to what exactly he meant by that, Pittoo took it upon himself to explain.

"Pitstain here thought it would be a good idea to use his Reaper Palm to look 'scarier'."

Just a few minutes before, Pit explained that the Reaper Palm was a completely normal weapon that he tended to use and happened to bring with him on this exact day for protection, and Dark Pit had brought an Orre Club with him as well.

They continued their argument, "I told him that the disguise I made and the Orre Club wind was enough!"

"And I said I knew I could be scarier!"

Magnus chimed into their argument, "You know Angelface has a point." he caught their attention and now both angels were staring intently at him. Magnus continued, "Pit's as scary as a newborn puppy he needed all the help he could get." Pit grew so embarrassed he tried to cover himself with his wings but there was no chance of success with his chicken wings. Pittoo laughed, a little miffed that he was proven wrong but happy to take any chance he could to playfully laugh at Pit.

As much as Gaol hated to interrupt the jokes she felt like she needed to ask one crucial question. "Angel?" Pit slightly moved a wing from uselessly trying to hide himself. "Yeah?" he asked.

"Those shots you fired at me and Magnus. Were you really trying to hit us?"

Silence followed, before Pit answered "O-Of course not."

"You hesitated."

* * *

**-the calm before the storm-**

As the night dragged on both angels decided that it was time to head home. They thanked Magnus and Gaol for sharing their food with them. It was Pit who mostly thanked them while Dark Pit watched him do it, but it's the thought that counts.

But just as both angels were ready to make their leave Magnus yelled at one of them to wait.

This caught Pit completely off guard, causing him to freeze in place. Once he regained his composure, he asked back at almost the same volume that Magnus had yelled; "WHAT?!" Magnus walked up to the distraught Pit and quietly pulled him aside, much to Dark Pit and Gaol's suspicion.

"Listen Angelface, I need you to answer one question and I need you to be blunt about it." Pit quietly nodded, still confused as to why Magnus didn't want the others to hear what they were talking about. Magnus closed his eyes and gave a sigh, mentally preparing himself for the potentially bad news Pit would give him.

"Are...Are your Gods up there causing trouble? Or are they gonna cause trouble for us humans anytime soon?"

Pit tilted his head, confused, "Why would they do that?" Magnus gave another tired sigh. Maybe he should have asked Dark Pit instead. He figured it was too late for that at this point. "Pit what I mean to say is that..." his voice became a hushed whisper, "You don't think the Gods are going to start another war soon, do you?"

This time Pit answered quickly and loudly enough that Dark Pit and Gaol overheard, "Another war?! Now?! Are you kidding me Magnus?! Everyone up there is still tired from the last one! Including me!"

"I'm not. It's boring up there. There's nothing to do." Dark Pit said throwing in his own two cents. Pit ran back to his twin and tried to cover Pittoo's mouth despite the slaps and hits it earned him. "Don't listen to Pittoo! he doesn't count! He's weird!" Dark Pit bit Pit's hand, causing Pit to yell and quickly recoil back. "Pitstain is the weird one!" Dark Pit yelled, despite being the angel who just bit a hand.

Despite Pit's completely straightforward answer Magnus spoke up again with the same question, "So, there's no chance of there being another war anytime soon?" This time Dark Pit answered him "Pffft! I wish! I don't know about you humans, but it gets boring up there without anything to fight!" he was interrupted by Pit's hand lightly slapping him in the face. "...except for Puppit."

"Well, that's good. Gives us time to rest." Magnus said, secretly very very relieved having heard from both angels the confirmation that it didn't seem that anything catastrophically big was going to happen anytime soon.

Just as Pittoo was going to once again say how much he disagreed with Magnus, a bright light enveloped both angels. Both humans could do nothing but stare at the pillars of light in awe.

It wasn't an everyday sight, that's for sure.

"AHH! Lady Palutena found out!" Pit said in a panic as he started to slightly hover above the ground, "I'm sorry Lady Palutena it was Pittoo's idea not mine! You have to believe me!" Dark Pit's head darted from side to side as if he were looking for something. "Phos! Lux! You lazy horses hurry up and-" was all Dark Pit managed to say before the light teleported them away, leaving only a few stray white and black feathers.

Gaol, who had been silently listening the whole time spoke up "So. That's what's been bothering you this whole time?" There was no need to be secretive about it anymore, so Magnus answered, "Yeah pretty much." She gave an understanding nod and patted his shoulder. Magnus gave her a very tired look.

"There's no need to worry now Magnus! if there ever is anything that happens just remember that you got your old pal Gaol here with you now! There's no need to be scared now!"

Magnus quickly snapped back, "I wasn't scared, it's called apprehension Gaol. Maybe you've heard of it?" Gaol took the last bite of her hot dog and simply answered, "Can't say that I have."

"That explains a lot actually."

Magnus ignored her and instead thought about what Pit had said about how Skyworld was fairing. From his wording it seemed that they were just as tired of war as humanity was, and since Gods lived for an eternity that probably meant that they would be tired for a good while.

And that meant Magnus' worries were gone for the time being. He smiled, making sure Gaol couldn't see. He couldn't wait to get back home and get some well needed rest.

* * *

**-but this mystery will remain...UNSOLVED-**

Gaol collapsed onto her bed in exhaustion.

Today had felt like one of the longest days in her life, it also had felt like one of the strangest.

And she had had plenty of strange days.

It should have been an easy day of watching Magnus clean his house, with her occasionally helping lift a table or two maybe. Then they were supposed to eat whatever meal Magnus had made, have a nice meaningful deep talk about their problems and then maybe go beat up someone that would try to rob Magnus' house.

Instead she had been tasked into putting on a play for a bunch of strangers and gotten paid to do it.

She turned onto her side and closed her eyes. But there was something she just couldn't get out of her mind. When Pit had spoken to her while he was in disguise. The voice that had spoken to her also sounded so unlike Pit. It sounded cold and spiteful, like whoever it was that was speaking to her was furious with her. He had even addressed her as 'Dark Lord Gaol'.

If she hadn't been talking to Pit, who did she talk to? And how did they know that she had been Dark Lord Gaol? She couldn't have been actually fighting-?!

Nah. it couldn't have been.

She turned onto her other side. Her eyes still closed. Earlier when she had asked Pit if he had been deliberately aiming for the humans using his arm weapon the answer he had given her was shaky at best. Thankfully she was able to take comfort in his twin's explanation he had said to her when Pit was busy talking with Magnus.

_"Hey about what you asked", he had said "I wouldn't worry about it, Pit's just a competitive person sometimes and it sorta gets out of hand once in a while. Trust me."_

_Gaol didn't answer and just listened. But judging by the expression on his face he seemed to have first had experience being at the bad end of Pit's competitive personality._

_"Besides, ghosts don't exist. Everyone up there knows that."_

She yawned, even if the day had been a little more chaotic than she had bargained Gaol felt it all worked out in the end. She was glad Magnus was finally going to get a good night sleep, even if she sometimes couldn't.

With that last thought Gaol fell into a deep sleep for the first time in weeks.

* * *

**-Magnus and Gaol will return in the Avengers-**

The next morning Gaol's door opened with a loud slam. Gaol screamed and instinctively grabbed her Blade. The door was open, and the morning light shone through revealing a familiar figure.

"Gaol! Where the hell did you leave my food?!"

* * *

hey uh

hi?

so this is new but i kinda just wanted to say thanks to like the maybe 5 people that read this i hope to continue this until i can. its fun! and i already have a lot of things i wanted to write planned! anyway thank you again and i hope i dont dissapoint you all too bad! winkwink


	4. Pit and Pittoo bother Nature

**In which Pit and Pittoo bother the Forces of Nature**

* * *

**-another simple excuse to kick off another simple plot-**

"**FORGET IT PALUTENA!**"

Viridi's anger filled voice echoed throughout her temple. Palutena, who was thousands of miles away, nervously laughed.

It was another run of the mill day at Viridi's Temple. Also known as her FORTRESS OF NATURE (all caps are absolutely necessary and failure to abide by these rules will result in immediate punishment of no dessert for a week.)

Her Forces of Nature patrolled and did various odd jobs inside the temple. At the same time her generals entertained themselves in whatever they had planned to do that day.

Unlike Palutena's temple, Viridi's temple had seen no destruction and had only flourished since then. Something which Viridi liked to remind Palutena about often.

Viridi's temple, if you could even call it that, was a colossal tree she had personally grown and made her home. The inside of the tree and its many roots were hollow, creating a home that was both spacious and very easy to get lost in. Various root hallways lead to dead ends and some others lead to stationary islands. The center of the tree was occupied by of course, Viridi herself.

The Goddess had even decided to spread the rumor that the forest that her tree occupied was both cursed and haunted. A double whammy guaranteed to drive any human away.

She truly valued her human free and conflict free life. At least, before she meet Palutena and Pit. Even though she secretly valued their friendship and was willing to help them in their time of need in whatever way she could, she certainly didn't think of herself as a babysitter.

Which is why she found herself livid at Palutena's request to _'watch'_ Pit for a couple of hours.

"Viridi please, the sooner you accept this little favor the sooner I'll be out of your hair!" Palutena pleaded desperately. It wasn't something she was used to doing but sacrifices had to made for this.

_'She must be serious about this.'_ Viridi thought.

Palutena's image was projected over Viridi's own All Seeing 'Eye', located in scenic Viridi's waterfall in the middle of her throne room. Her tired appearance gave Viridi suspicions that she was the final resort.

"Today is Centurion training day and I just know Pit is going to try to go out of his way to help some certain Centurions."

Viridi saw Palutena angrily glace to the side as she said that. She suspected that those certain Centurions were probably close by.

Palutena let out a cough and continued, "This time I want it to be a real test of my Centurion's abilities. I know Pit means well and wants to help them, but I feel that maybe he's doing more harm than good."

Viridi tiredly leaned on her throne and let out a yawn, not fully paying attention. "Do you understand Viridi?" Palutena asked, deep down she hoped that Viridi would change her mind after she had explained the situation.

But this was Viridi she was talking to.

"Palutena, give me one reason why I should help you!" Viridi pointed an accusatory finger at the image of Palutena on her waterfall. "We **ARE** still enemies after all! Or are you just that much an airhead to forget that?!" under her breath she whispered, "I can see where Pit gets it from now." Thankfully Viridi's signal was so bad that Palutena wasn't able to hear that. "Oh no, I didn't forget!" Palutena answered her with a soft smile, "I just figured you would do this favor because you would be helping Pit!"

At the mere mention of helping _that_ Angel, Viridi almost lost her balance sitting on her throne and stumbled for a few seconds. "Why would I be interested in helping HIM?!" Viridi regained her composure and continued digging her hole deeper and deeper.

"Didn't I do enough of helping Pit already?! How would training centurions help Pit anyway?!"

N-Not that she cared about how it would.

Palutena smiled again, but a smile with a malicious intent behind it and even with Viridi's potato signal she could see it clear as day. Clapping her hands together she answered," That's easy! You see if the Centurions are stronger, then when Pit is in trouble and needs their help they'll be more than ready to support him!" Unfortunately for Viridi, Palutena made a very good point and judging by Palutena's calm demeanor she knew that too.

Viridi hands shook in anger, they had been curled up into fists since Palutena first called. She tried her hardest to think of a rebuttal. That rebuttal would later come while Viridi was seconds away from falling asleep later that night, as she remembered events of her day. Practically useless then but it would have prevented the next couple of hours from occurring if she had said it now.

Buuut she didn't.

Viridi threw her hands into the air and gave a long tired groan, "Ugh! Fine! Bring him over!" Palutena gave her another friendlier smile, most likely a result of getting what she wanted. "Thank you Viridi! I'll have Pit there before you can say 'Uprising two'!"

Palutena's image vanished from the waterfall. Viridi gave a weak smack to the water. She already had a full day ahead and the possibility of Pit coming into her house and potentially bothering her just made her madder than she was just a few minutes before.

From out of the corner of her eye she noticed a pillar of light appearing near where she knew Dark Pit tended to hang out. It was a place in her temple her troops rarely visited and as a result was the perfect place for a reclusive Angel to spend his time in. "...Huh. At least Palutena was smart enough to send him to his weird twin and not me." she thought it over a minute, "Or evil enough?"

She didn't have time to telepathically ask Dark Pit if the pillar of light had been Pit because the call that she had put on hold to answer Palutena finally called back again.

On the other end was someone with an arguably worse signal than Viridi. It was Poseidon God of the Sea. His image appeared on her waterfall and Viridi could tell by the furious look on his face that the two would be here quite a while. Not that she minded, she would gladly stand for hours if it meant putting the pompous Sea God in his place. So, it was a good thing she was currently sitting down.

Viridi happily took it upon herself to start the argument again.

"Where were we? Oh yeah! You wanna explain how they're MY RESPONSIBILY AGAIN?!"

* * *

**-let's try out best again today!—**

Today was off to a weird start for Pit.

One second he had been trying to make a paper airplane out of old drawings to throw off Skyworld. Then the next thing he knew he was in what looked like a very messy room. Thankfully for him he landed on something soft!

...and oddly feathery?

And very _very_ angry.

"Get off me you pest!"

There was not even a second to react to that rather rude statement before Pit found himself being flung off whatever he had landed on. Now he found himself lying on his back with his wings spread out on the floor. From his new angle he was able to see that the very thing he landed on was now standing over him.

It was his twin, Dark Pit. Who by this point I hope requires no introduction.

"What's the big idea Pitstain?!" before Dark Pit could ask any more questions an expression of recognition briefly flashed on his face. He gasped, his whole body turned to look at the television he had been playing on just a few moments ago.

"NO! Puppit you dolt! I was so close to beating Corona Mountain and now you've ruined it!"

If Dark pit was hoping for Pit to respond to him anytime soon, he was fresh out of luck. Because while Pittoo was yelling out his frustrations about having spent two hours trying to beat the last level of a video game, Pit was busy taking in his surroundings. From his view on the floor he could see a very angry Pittoo, some sort of old television and a rather large bed. A bed that looked neatly made with pillows and blankets that matched the colors of Pittoo's outfit. He tilted his head to the side to get a better look at the walls. All sorts of different weapons, from Blades to Cannons hung from the walls. Though he was confused as to what they were doing there since Pittoo only really liked using his Silver Bow and Dark Pit staff.

Finally, using his powers of deduction and reasoning Pit felt like he finally had the answer to the mystery of where he had landed.

"Pittoo! Am I in your room?!" Pit yelled, interrupting Dark Pit's rant. Which yes, it still had been going throughout that last paragraph.

Dark Pit stared at Pit, completely at a loss for words. Just how dense could his brother be?! Despite that he had some very choice words for him. "Where did you think you were?!" Dark Pit yelled, his voice a mixture of anger and worry. Pit chuckled embarrassingly, "I uh-don't really have an answer for that one." At a metaphorical loss for words once again Dark Pit gave up on yelling at Pit. He leaned on one of his dressers, something that Pit hadn't noticed was in his room.

"Did Palutena not tell you where you were going? Is that it Puppit?" he asked calmly. Pit lay on the floor, silent.

"I'm right on the money aren't I?"

"MAYBE!"

* * *

**-if youd ask pittoo his room is so much better than pit's-**

After numerous failed attempts to contact either Palutena or Viridi both Angels decided to turn their attention elsewhere. Or to be more accurate, after Dark Pit yelled for Viridi a total of once Pit got up and tried to play Pittoo's video game only for the controller to be angrily snatched away.

Now the two of them were trying to work together to beat the level.

But don't be fooled Dark Pit was doing the actual work.

"Augh!" Dark Pit lost yet another life to the lava of the volcano. "This is impossible! How is anyone supposed to win this?!" he threw the controller down and collapsed on his bed in defeat.

Pit reached over to the free controller. "Don't even think about it." Pit quickly retreated his hand from the controller at the sound of Dark Pit's weak protests. He'd been trying since the morning to beat the level, even skipping breakfast. He was the very dangerous combination of angry, hungry and tired. Pit knew it was better to let Pittoo cool off for now.

Around the twenty-five second mark of doing that Pit found himself completely and utterly bored.

So instead of sitting around watching a pause screen he decided to waste his time freely exploring Pittoo's room. One of the many things that Pittoo told him, well actually threatened him, not to do. Pit stood up and for the first time noticed the size of Pittoo's room.

It wasn't really small, but it was no where as big as his own room. Ah, but of course, there was a g̶o̶o̶d̴ ̵r̷e̶a̴s̵o̷n̵ ̷f̶o̶r̴ ̶t̷h̶a̷t̸.̵ ̵

Just like Pit's own room Pittoo had a singular window. Aaaand that was all the similarities Pit could find between their rooms. He would have counted that they both had a ceiling and floor, but he felt that was just par for the course with rooms.

Pittoo's room just felt way more emptier than his. There were no bean bags, no plushies, no old toys and certainly no photos adorning the walls. Pit felt a bit sorry for him, the only fun thing he had to do in his room seemed to be a video game console and right now it didn't seem very fun to him at all._ 'Maybe...'_, he thought, _'It's cause Pittoo hasn't been as long as I have!'_ As more time passed Pittoo would get a bigger room and more things! Just like he had! Maybe when he got home he would ask Lady Palutena about giving Pittoo some of his old stuff! That would speed up the process and make Pittoo happy! And if was happy than Pit was happy too!

Pit couldn't help but hum a happy jingle thinking about how cool Pittoo's future room would look.

There was something that was still bothering him though.

Despite feeling sorry for the lonely state of Pittoo's room Pit was admittedly a little jealous of the weapons he was allowed to keep on his wall. Back home Lady Palutena had strict rules that Pit was only allowed to keep his weapons at the Training Grounds and the Weapons Room. He couldn't imagine Viridi being less strict about it than Lady Palutena. Or maybe Pittoo just didn't ask her.

Speaking of Viridi...

"Hey Pittoo?" at the sound of Pit's voice, Dark Pit was wakened from his half-asleep state. "What's up?" he answered, not bothering to get up from his bed. Pit sat down on the bed next to where his brother was laying down. Pittoo instinctively shuffled farther away from Pit.

"Do you like working for the Forces of Nature?"

"I'm not."

Pit blinked. That wasn't even close to the answer he expected. Honestly he'd expected a, 'No.' In which case he'd say, 'Why not?!' Then Pittoo would say something like 'I'm just too cool for them Puppit!' Then he would groan just like he always did and then Pit would make a whole speech about how he had to be friends with them and work together. He had it all planned out!

Well mostly.

"W-What do you mean you're not?" Pit had officially gone off script and there was no turning back. "I'm not working for them." Pittoo shrugged his shoulders while still lying down, "So since I'm not working for them I technically don't like working for them" After his explanation Dark Pit sat up and was able to see Pit's expression.

It was as he suspected, Pit looked like he was utterly lost. Dark Pit rolled his eyes, "I don't work for the Forces of Nature!" Pit nodded in response, he understood that. Pittoo continued, "SO! I can't like or dislike working for them since I **don't work for them!"** Dark Pit finished yelling that last part a little more loudly than he had originally intended.

Dark Pit stared at his twin. Still waiting for the moment of realization. That moment came when Pit jumped in surprise and said, "Oh!" Dark Pit was glad he got the picture but unfortunately what he didn't know was that Pit hadn't quite grasped the whole concept.

Pit suddenly gasped and brought his hands to his face in shock, "Does that mean you don't talk with anyone here?!" Dark Pit looked at him in surprise, unsure of how to answer that question. So he decided to hit him with the truth.

"Uh...No. I don't. Why would I?"

Without any warning he found himself being whisked from the bed and grabbed by his shoulders. "You don't talk to anyone here?!" Pit's eyes were filled with desperate hope expecting for Pittoo to reveal his clever joke and that yes, he did have one friend here to talk to.

Pittoo continued telling the truth.

"Yeah. Pretty much."

Pit began shaking Pittoo, much to his annoyance. "Not even Arlon?! Phosphora?! CRAGALANCHE?!" He kept listing off names of prominent members of the Forces of Nature without even giving Pittoo time to answer. Yet despite the shaking Pittoo did manage to say something.

"I-I don't talk to them be-because I don't want to! N-No-Now stop shaking me!"

Pit let go immediately and apologized for getting carried away.

"It's fine." Pittoo said, "Just don't do it again." He waited for a response from his brother but all Pit seemed to be interested in was staring at the floor, probably embarrassed at how he had acted. Pittoo sighed and turned his attention back to his video game to finally turn it off.

Meanwhile, Pit was feeling embarrassed at how he had acted. But not only that, he also felt sorry for his brother.

How did he not have any friends here? Even if he said he didn't work here, that shouldn't matter! He lived here! Was it Pittoo's fault? Was it somebody else's fault? Why was he asking so many questions? Why was he here? How many friends did _he_ have?! How did Pittoo spend his days?! Did he spend them all in here?! Did Lady Palutena know?! WHY COULDNT THEY FL-

Pit closed his eyes and shook his head to clear his thoughts.

Opening his eyes, he could see that his twin had just finished putting away his weird square shaped game console and had turned his attention to an Electroshock Arm that hung on his wall.

_'Maybe that's what he does all day?'_ Pit thought. Though if you asked Pit, fiddling with weapons hardly seemed like his idea of a fun, _'Oh! But maybe it's fun for him!_'

Understanding and getting to know Pittoo was always a hard lesson but Pit was always eager to learn. Even when his twin made it almost impossible.

* * *

**-wepon stach-**

One of Pittoo's Electroshock Arms lay on the ground in pieces. It wasn't entirely broken but it also wasn't entirely in working condition either. It was stuck somewhere in the limbo of '_Yeah, I'll will fix this one day or give in and yell at Pit to tell Palutena to tell Dyntos to fix it.' _

With that in mind, messing with weapons was something Pittoo liked doing but it wasn't something he was good at, not even close. In fact, in his time fiddling with weapons he had broken exactly twelve of them and shot Phosphora out of the sky a total of thrice times. But he was determined to mess with his weapons just enough to push them beyond their limitations.

That's right baby, he was talking seven points of defense! That would finally show those dumb Light Warriors what for! Why Pit always joined their team he would never understand.

Too concentrated in his work Pittoo didn't even bat an eye when Pit grabbed a pair of Orbitars from his wall. Instead he was much more focused on giving his Electroshock Arm the ability to poison his enemies.

Yes, he was in total and complete Pittoo concentration mode.

That is until there was a loud crash that came right from the direction Pit was in. Go figure.

"You better not be messing with my stuff!" Dark Pit yelled. He held out a tube of the Electroshock Arm in a feeble attempt to scare Pit.

Somehow it worked and Pit, with his hands suspiciously behind his back, apologized for knocking down Pittoo's Rose Staff. Dark pit lowered his the unspecified tube and his guard and grumbled, "Just don't touch my things okay?" Under his breath he mumbled, "I don't go touching your stuff Pitstain, geez..."

Back to the problem at hand, it looked like he had broken his fourth Electroshock Arm. Dark Pit gave a long sigh, he wasn't quite sure what he was doing wrong. It was almost like taking apart a weapon and stuffing it with Divine Power Cards was not the way to make a weapon stronger.

Dark Pit straightened up and clenched his fists in determination. Even if he had failed four times now, he was determined to make his method work one way or another! It wouldn't be the first time he brute forced his way through something.

And this method seemed way easier than that _'weapon combining'_ nonsense Pit had told him about.

* * *

**-you know like?-**

"Hey! Pittoo!" Pit yelled at his twin from across the room, he was very excited to show him something he had found. Dark Pit looked up from fiddling with his Electroshock Arm, "This better be good Pitstain!"

Pit smiled and from behind his back he held up two Orbitars. Each Orbitar was shaped like the paws of a cat and dog.

"Meow!" Pit said, holding the individual parts of the Paw Pad Orbitars in both of his hands.

* * *

**-shut the up-**

A loud crashing sound came from the west side of the temple.

There was no time for Viridi to process on what on earth that could had possibly been. Because as soon as she turned her attention to it, Poseidon spoke up again. "What is going on over there?" his loud voice showed a rare sign of genuine confusion. However, he soon went back to his familiar demanding voice, "I hope you're not planning anything Viridi."

Poseidon really got on her nerves. Viridi took in a calming breath and turned back to him "I have a...guest over and it sounds like he's causing trouble and should **REALLY SHUT UP!"** her calm demeanor had flown out the window, but fortunately like a bug catcher catching beetles to pay off a mortgage she managed to catch another one.

"But! I'm not going to worry about it! I'm sure my Forces of Nature will handle it!" she gave a smug smile at the Ocean God, "I taught them everything I know!"

Soon after Viridi had made her boast there was a second explosion, more powerful than the last one.

"It sounds like your 'Forces of Nature' could use a bit more training."

"OOOH! Don't you give me that! YOU don't even have an army!"

Poseidon gave a small laugh, which was rather uncharacteristic of him. "That's because, oh small Goddess of Nature, unlike some I don't need one." from Poseidon's feed came the sounds of crashing waves, "May I remind you of the sunken city? Who sunk it exactly?"

Viridi rolled her eyes, if there was one thing that she hated more than Poseidon's stupid haughty attitude it was his tendency to bring up his many accomplishments.

Accomplishments that were, mind you, not any greater and grander than any other God's miracles. "AGAIN with the city! You sunk that what, two thousand and twelve years ago!" her calm demeanor had decided to take a prolonged vacation and leaft annoyance to do all the work.

"If you're so powerful why don't you go sink another one then?!"

"Because there's no need to."

Viridi was so close to pulling her hair out and hanging up on the guy that it wasn't even funny.

"Okay! Fine! Forget the city! Forget everything! The problem here is the wh-"

Before Viridi could finish her very plot important sentence she was cut off by the third explosion, this one not as loud as the other two that preceded it. And before Poseidon could even get in another stupid quip Viridi put him on mute.

Something she should have done eons ago.

* * *

**-its a bullet hell!-**

With one of his many other working Electroshock Arms equipped Dark Pit fired at Pit once again. And again. And again.

Pit having dropped the Orbitars in his state of panic had no way to defend himself and was forced to run from Pittoo's room in a selfless effort to save his brothers room from collateral damage. But it was mostly because Pit was running for his life.

Now the two Angels were running through the halls of the FORTRESS OF NATURE scaring many of Viridi's forces that were just going through their rounds.

"Pittoo! I'm sorry for touching your stuff but I think you might be overreacting!" Pit screamed, barely dodging another blast from Pittoo's Electroshock Arm.

"You're overreacting!" Pittoo said overreacting.

Pit said nothing and took off running down another hall. Before Pittoo made the decision to fire another shot he suddenly had a moment of recognition. He looked around and his eyes meet the various eyes of several of Viridi's minions who were staring at him in shock. The majority had never even seen Pittoo outside of his room, so they were just as equally confused. He sighed, he'd done the complete opposite of what he set out to do for the time he planned to stay in Viridi's place.

Which had extended far longer than he cared to admit.

Without another word he took a deep breath and walked back to his room, Electroshock Arm in tow. He knew the eyes of Viridi's minions were all over him but at this point, he didn't care.

Yup, he sure didn't care.

After a quick cleanup of his room and a Silver Bow secretly stowed away just in case, Dark Pit took off in search of Pit. He needed to make sure his twin didn't get into any more trouble.

"I swear sometimes it seems like I'm the older one..." he sincerely hoped no one had heard him say that.

* * *

**-2 angels 2 babysit-**

"Phosphora!"

Phosphora was scared awake from her late morning nap with her usual alarm clock. She flew up and hit the roof of her room in a panic. Her rarely used and rather spacious room was located on the east side of the temple. The complete opposite end where the explosion happened which explained why she had still been sleeping.

Her head zipped from side to side, looking for an answer as to why Viridi had woken her up. "Huh?! What's going on?! Don't tell me there's another war?!" In a rush and not waiting for a direct answer from Viridi she kicked the nearest window open and flew outside only to find it suspiciously war-free. Phosphora raised an eyebrow in confusion, thankfully her confusion was short lived.

"Phosphora! Next time why don't you wait until I tell you what to do before we start kicking windows open, okay?" Viridi's voice echoed in her head, distracting her from thinking about her stupid decision.

"That's my bad! I'll get Arlon to make a new window right away." Phosphora said looking over the damage she had caused. It was indeed a broken window and Arlon was sure to get on her case for having him repair yet another one of her things. She still got from him flak about the time she had rammed the Lightning Chariot into a wall of her room. Viridi spoke up rather loudly again, interrupting Phosphora's chariot of thought.

"Forget about the window for now Phosphora. Right now I need you for an important assignment!"

Phosphora yawned, couldn't Viridi have waited till tomorrow to send her out on assignment? But she had to admit going out and doing something did sound fun.

"What is it now? Need me to cause another storm to scare a few humans into recycling?" She took a seat on nothing but air, "Or do I have to shock another God's minion into submission?"

As stated, a million times beforehand, life had been rather quiet after Hades' defeat and that was no different for Phosphora. It had been quite a while since she went all out as she had done against Thanatos and Pit. Any chance she could get to stretch out and strike a few lightning bolts here and there was a chance she would take.

Phosphora was both excited and dreading at what sort of work Viridi would assign her. Mostly excited.

Viridi let out a sigh, "I need you to watch over Pit and Pittoo today."

"You what."

But it was too late for questions, Viridi had already hung up on her.

* * *

**\- its eco-friendly to recycle!-**

Pit, still in a panic, ran in the direction that he was positive lead him away from what he knew was a very angry Pittoo.

He took a turn to the left, went right, then went to the left again. After so many twist and turns it turned out, he was very lost. _'It's my own fault for never asking Viridi for a map to this place!'_ Pit thought turning to his immediate left. Or was it the right now?!

As Pit ran in nonsensical directions, Pittoo found himself less worried for Pit and more furious at him for making him chase him around the whole main temple. Basically, he was back at square one.

However most of his anger was directed at the fact that Dark Pit had also never bothered to memorize the layout of Viridi's temple, despite living here for almost seven years. Though he mostly just stayed in his room and kept to himself. The only thing in the entire temple he cared about knowing was where the Hot Springs were and **that's it.**

But nooooo, Dark Pit could never get what **HE** wants so now here **HE** was chasing around Pit not only because he was mad at him but because he also needed to make sure Pit didn't do anything stupid and get them both killed. Considering that this temple was full of people that wanted Pit dead at one point or another.

Pit could take them on of course. That is if he had any way to defend himself. Which he didn't.

Then in the distance there was a faint; "Ow!" It sounded an awful lot like Pit if he had run into one of the many thorn bushes that adorned the walls of the temple.

Dark Pit ran over in more than a hurry than he'd like to admit. He just needed to make sure Pit hadn't died, that's it. Luckily for both Angels. Pit's worst injury was a thorn on his cheek. A brutal consequence brought upon from ramming full force into the wall.

Dark pit sighed, "You're going to get us both killed one day if you keep this up Pitstain." Pit, too busy pulling out the thorn to scream or object to what Pittoo said simply responded with another "Ow..."

With Pit out of harm's way Dark Pit was willing to put the whole mess behind them, the simple action of Pit ramming full force into a wall of thorns seemed karma enough anyway. But just as Dark Pit was about to suggest they both return to his room and play something on his Nintendo 3DS™.

There was a flash!

It was so bright that it blinded both Angels. The light was accompanied by a sound so loud their hands rushed to cover their ears, but to no avail. It was just that loud. _'Almost as loud as Viridi talking.'_ Dark Pit thought to himself. During the flash, Pit managed to just about see the faint outline of what seemed to be a person.

Then that person started talking.

"Like lightning I strike without warning! Like a storm I arrive with a crash! The top of Viridi's generals making her entrance!" the light slowly faded, and the figure was finally fully revealed. Phosphora flashed a thumbs up, "That's right! It's the Lightning Flash Phosphora herself!"

"Making!" **CRASH!**

"Her!" **BOOM!**

"Entrance!" **KA-KRASH!**

Nothing but awkward silence followed her speech and Phosphora simply floated just slightly in front of the two angels.

Dark Pit felt a light tap on his shoulder and turned to Pit. Who simply asked, "What's up with her?"

* * *

**\- *phosphora voice* ka chow-**

"What do you want Phosphora?" Dark Pit asked, not even bothering to look up at her.

Annoyed, Phosphora crossed her arms and turned her back to them. "What? That's it? I spent all day figuring out that entrance and that's all I get?" she zipped over to Pittoo and playfully tapped him on the head, causing his hair to stand on its end. "But what did I expect from wolf over here? You've never even said hello to me once!" Pittoo swatted his hands at her, trying to oh so hard to get her away from him but as she was a good distance above him it was useless. Phosphora silently admired his effort though.

Rubbing his still sore cheek Pit decided to ask the question of the hour, "What are you doing here anyway Phosphora?"

"I live here Pit."

Before Pit could feel embarrassed about his question, Pittoo steeped between them and asked the right question. "What I think Pitstain means to say is; What are you doing HERE?!" he waved his arms up and down to clarify that he meant the area that he and Pit were currently in.

Also, unfortunately, Phosphora.

With another quick zip Phosphora was now floating directly in front of the Angels, she laid down on another patch of thin air and gave a sigh. "Mistress Viridi gave me strict orders just now." she pouted, "I'm supposed to 'watch two dumb angels and make sure they don't cause any trouble.' and if you ask me-"

"We're not."

Despite Dark Pit's objection Phosphora continued, "-you two seem to be doing juuust fine without me." On cue, the pair looked behind at the wall that Pit had ran into just a short while ago, "Relatively speaking of course."

"Well go back to Viridi and tell her that we don't need a babysitter!" Pittoo crossed his arms in defiance, "Isn't that right Pit?"

"Heke?"

"See you heard him! Now like I said, leave us alone!" Dark Pit spread his wings in an effort to look much bigger than he was.

It was supposed to intimidate Phosphora into giving in to his demands and leaving them alone. At least he thought it would. In reality, she thought it was hilarious. "Aww is the wittle angel trying to scare me off?" Phosphora chuckled and Dark Pit turned a slight shade of red, "Riiight, I forgot you guys embarrass easily. My bad." Dark Pit mumbled a quiet "Shut up." before grabbing Pit by the wrist and dragging him away.

To which Pit put up absolutely no struggle. Giving in to the fact that he was now being dragged across the hallway to who knows where.

After only a few steps Dark Pit whisked around to see that Phosphora was still following them. To his annoyance, "Hey! Didn't I say we were fine on our own?!" Phosphora scoffed, "And didn't I say that Viridi ordered me to watch over you?"

"Since when are you such a stickler for taking orders?!"

"Since it was this entertaining!"

Pit's eyes darted between Dark Pit and Phosphora, unsure of what he should say. He figured that it would be better if he just kept his mouth shut, for once. Dark Pit was talking enough for the both of them anyway.

"How long are you going to follow us?!"

"Ooh. I don't know...maybe forever?!"

They were really going at it. _'No wonder Pittoo doesn't like talking to the Forces of Nature.'_ Pit thought. _'Or maybe it's just a bad day?'_

* * *

**-was someone gonna tell me corals branches are called tentacles or was i just supposed to find that out when i decided to name this excerpt 'every rose has its tentacle'—**

After hearing Phosphora and Pittoo argue for well over half an hour Pit's feet had fallen asleep from standing in place for so long. He quietly raised his voice and asked for a place that he could sit that wasn't the ground, considering it was covered with dirt and he didn't want to dirty his newly washed tunic.

Phosphora, much to Dark Pit's chagrin lead Pit down a not thorn covered hall to a flower filled park. This lovely park was located right in the center of Viridi's temple.

Give or take a few feet.

Truthfully, the park was more of a giant flower garden where Viridi grew her most favorite flowers of all time for everyone to see. Nutskis and Pips (somehow) were flying all around the park, each of them carrying watering cans. Their jobs were to carefully water the flowers, while making sure not to overwater them.

The trio tried their best not to disturb their work, even Dark Pit. Pit, still very tired, took a seat on the biggest bench he saw. Dark Pit did the same but instead opted to sit on the most secluded bench over near the Corpse Flowers that were thankfully not in bloom.

After only a little while of being separated Pit ran over to Pittoo to sit next to him, worried that he might get lonely.

* * *

**-did i look at an article about lightning to write this? absolutely not that wouldnt be nearly as funny-**

Phosphora floated just slightly above the Angels and kept an eye on both while they argued over what to eat for lunch.

Nothing much happened other than that, which Phosphora was a more than a little disappointed in. She had hoped that Pit and Pittoo would at least decide to do something dumb and therefore hilarious to her. But all they seemed to be interested in doing is discussing whether ranch was a viable dipping sauce or not.

That is until Phosphora felt a tug on her scarf.

After the initial annoyance of being chocked by her own scarf, Phosphora turned to yell at whoever had decided to yank on it.

"Hey Phosphora!" it had been Pit. Of course. "I wanted to get your attention cause it sorta looked like you fell asleep." Phosphora yanked her scarf back from Pit's hands. She hadn't been a fan of people touching it since a part of it was taken to create a weapon. She had no idea on who could had done it, but she had her suspicions. It was definitely Cragalanche, the guy always blew through his savings as quick as he got them.

Anyway, back to the Angel on the ground.

"What is it Pit? This better be good otherwise..." she crackled a bolt of lightning in between her hands as a warning sign. Pit gulped, obviously thinking twice over the next few words that were going to come out of his mouth.

He didn't think much about them since he asked them right after, "So me and Pittoo were wondering-" a quick "I wasn't!", echoed out from far away. Pit ignored it and continued talking as he more than often did, "Why is it that when Lightning happens it goes straight to the ground?"

"Why would you wanna know about that?" Phosphora asked. She was genuinely curious why Pit would want to know about lightning. Hopefully he wasn't trying to find out any of her potential weaknesses.

"Well! I've noticed that back in Skyworld whenever I watch storms lightning always goes in a lot of different directions, but it only connects on the ground! So I was wondering maybe you would know why?" he scratched the back of his head looking a little embarrassed, "I can't ask Lady Palutena about it because she's the one always telling me to stay inside during the rain because I could catch a cold..."

"Figures a guy like you wouldn't have the guts to ask her." her response caused Pit to flap his wings in anger. "What's that supposed to mean?!" Phosphora waved her hand nonchalantly, floating down closer to his level, but not all the way to the ground.

"Nothing at all Pit. It doesn't mean anything at all."

"Oh, okay! So, about my question! Do you have an answer?"

'_Wow he really is simple'_, she thought. Phosphora flew herself slightly above Pit. Close enough that the electricity from her was causing Pit's hair to stand up.

"The answer is simple. Check this out." she shot a couple of bolts. The bolts went straight for the ground and emitted a large boom. A few feet away Dark Pit jumped in surprise, glared at the two with murderous intent, then went back to ignoring Phosphora's "science lesson". Pit stared with complete concentration at Phosphora's demonstration and kept paying attention as she continued

"I hate to admit it but my lightning is technically useless until it hits the ground." she said with a shrug, "For example, if I were to shock you with lightning right now you would be dead on the spot!"

Pit gulped, he was a big fan of staying alive and the idea of getting finished never got any easier to swallow. No matter how many times he went through it. That's why after Phosphora's last explanation he moved slightly away from her for his own safety, and for Pittoo's. With the big steps he took he wasn't exactly subtle about it and Phosphora decided to play along, "Come on! I'm not going to kill you HERE. "

Pit stepped forward just a bit.

"We would never be able to wipe your stain off the walls."

Pit let out a yelp and scrambled far away from Phosphora, who was busy trying not to laugh her head off. "Kidding! Just kidding!" she flew back close to him and playfully flicked his nose giving him a tiny shock along with it, which slightly annoyed him.

Despite this and everything that had just happened before this, he let Phosphora continue her electricity explanation.

"Right. Where was I? Oh yeah! Say I shock you-"

"Can we PLEASE stop talking about shocking me?"

"Yeesh! There's no need to yell about it." Phosphora yelled about it, "I'm just about done but first I'll need a volunteer from the audience!"

Pit looked around, noticing the grand lack of an audience around them. Unless he counted Pittoo, but he looked like he was doing his own thing.

He came to the scary conclusion that Phosphora was talking about him.

"Ding ding ding! Look at that! He's just full of good ideas folks!"

Without another word and with a quick flick of her hand Phosphora yoinked Pit by one of his bracelets. Before Pit could yell out in surprise, he suddenly found himself suspended a few feet in the air. "See?" Pit looked up to see Phosphora grinning from ear to ear. He tensed up in fear, he hoped that smile wasn't because she was about to something very hurty to him.

Phosphora took notice of Pit's nervousness and loosened her grip. She was just trying to demonstrate something, not kill him.

At least not yet.

"You notice anything yet Pit?" she said, swaying him from side to side. He was shockingly light, or at least lighter than she had imagined him to be. Swaying in the wind Pit was having trouble noticing much of anything other than the lack of solid ground on his feet. After not getting answer from him, Phosphora decided to just be direct about it.

"Pit, I don't know if you've noticed but at this very moment there's about a billion bolts of electricity coming out of my hands and shocking you!" at the sound of that absolutely terrifying statement Pit kicked up his legs in a panic, desperate to get away from his imminent death.

Phosphora decided to humor him a few seconds.

A few seconds later Pit stopped panicking. "Oh! Wait" he said, surprised that he was still alive. "If you're telling the truth then how am I not dead?" Phosphora gave a sigh of relief, happy that she could FINALLY explain what she had been trying to tell Pit for the past few minutes. In hindsight, not a very long time to wait but she was never one for patience.

Phosphora swung Pit from side to side and asked him, "Remember what I said about lightning about seven paragraphs ago?" Pit unfortunately had forgotten what she had talked about before and he had no idea what a paragraph was. So his answer was a confused, "No?"

Phosphora saw this coming a mile away so thankfully she was only mildly disappointed, "I figured as much so here's a quick summary just for you!" Pit was listening closely. "Lightning does nothing if it doesn't touch ground! So Phosphora, that's me, makes it not touch ground!" she looked closely at him to see if there was any sign that Pit had understood her lengthy explanation. Miraculously, there was a spark of recognition in his little eyes.

"Ooooh! I get it!" his understanding very quickly turned to fears however with a loud gulp, "Y-You're not gonna make it hit the ground? Are you?" Phosphora waved her hand and his fears away, laughing, "I would never! The lessons not done yet!" she winked, and Pit felt concerned for his safety yet again.

"You're in the air right?" she asked, getting a confused nod from pit in response. "Now take someone touching the ground. Do you know what would happen to them?" Phosphora didn't wait for Pit to give a dumb answer. With Pit in tow she made her way over to Dark Pit who was still sitting by himself off in the corner.

Hopelessly trying to keep himself busy since Pit left him mid-argument to ask his ~oh so important question~. Probably because Pit knew he was losing and he knew deep down ranch was **NOT** a legal dipping sauce. Regardless of his unofficial victory, Dark Pit still had an air about him that was just begging for someone to interact with him. He felt he was being ignored, though he hoped he wasn't being too obvious. It was just his luck that someone did notice him!

Phosphora freed up one of her hands leaving Pit loosely dangling for his life from her right hand.

"Watch and learn Pit! The magic of lightning!" and before Pittoo could react to the sound of Phosphora right behind him or before Pit could yell out "Phosphora no!", she touched Pittoo on the side of his arm with a graceful finger poke.

Then, well, let's just say that Pitooo had quite a shock.

And so did Pit. Because sometimes you forget that you're already holding an Angel in one hand when you direct electricity down. It's an honest mistake.

* * *

**-watch out youre gonna crash!-**

With another graceful dodge Phosphora dodged a rock that flew at her. She saw another rock from the left coming at her and ducked behind a watering Nutski. Luckily the rock was thrown only hard enough to cause the Nutski to drop its watering can, causing it to get angry at the Dark Angel who had thrown it.

Though Dark Pit couldn't have cared less why the Nutski was yelling at him. All he cared about was getting back at Phosphora for shocking him.

Oh, and Pit too.

"Wow! That one almost got me! Keep trying and you might even hit my scarf next time." she said playfully twirling her scarf in place.

Team Angels both knew that at the rate they were going Phosphora was right. If only one of them had some sort of weapon on them. A weapon that was known to home in on its targets. Maybe something that was usually associated in hitting targets...

"Got it!" Phosphora heard Pittoo say from below her. She opened one of her eyes, curious to see what brilliant plan the little Angel had cooked up in that big head of his. Maybe they finally figured out they should have given up a long time ago? _'Nah'_, she thought _'He sounds too confident for it to be that.'_

She didn't get to rack her brain for any other potential threats that would be coming her way before a white winged Angel thrown with full force and spite knocked her down to the ground.

"W-We got her Pittoooo..."

* * *

**-bioniclaurs-**

With Dark Pit's grudge settled for now, he decided that he and Pit's next destination would be Viridi's kitchen. Or dining room? Whichever had more food.

Pit was a little caught off guard by Pittoo's sudden idea. It was just a while ago that his brother seemed perfectly content with staying in his room for the rest of his life. And considering what had just happened with Phosphora, Pit thought he would feel stronger about that idea than before.

On the contrary, Pittoo was perfectly content with exploring the temple looking for a bite to eat.

Even though he was still a little confused Pit agreed to follow him. It had been a while since he had breakfast so it must have been almost time for lunch! Trusting their empty guts both brothers took off running in a completely random direction, leaving Phosphora behind.

And that completely random decision making is how they had now found themselves at one the edges of the temple. Completely lost.

Pit was currently sitting on the edge, his feet dangling in the cold forest air. He looked over at his brother who was currently using his hands as makeshift binoculars to scope the surrounding area, Pit's suggestion of course.

Not wanting to disturb Pittoo's busy work was one of the reasons he wasn't trying to start a conversation with him. The other reason is because he suspected Pittoo was still in a sour mood.

Phosphora was still hovering over them watching them like a hawk after all.

"What kind of stupid designer makes a hallway that ends at a cliff?" Pittoo mumbled to himself. He secretly hoped that Viridi would somehow be able to hear his criticisms.

For the first time in a while Phosphora floated in on the scene, "You know I can just show you where the cafeteria is right?"

"W-What? Since when was there a cafeteria here?!" Pittoo said dropping his imaginary binoculars in shock.

"Um, since forever? Or as long as I've been working here anyway...?" Pit noticed that Phosphora's voice began to trail off at the end of her explanation. _'How long have you been working here?'_ he was about to ask.

Pittoo rolled his eyes and groaned, "Fine! Just take us there already!" he got a head start on the two and walked back down the hallway that he and Pit had gone through. As soon as he heard Pit get up and follow him, he turned quickly to Phosphora.

"Don't think that you doing this for me means I owe you anything."

"Wow, haven't you heard of being nice? You should try it sometimes?" Phosphora said playfully. Dark Pit glared at her, Phosphora gave a shrug and flew forward, "Just follow me and don't get lost. And if you do don't expect me to go find you!"

She slowly flew down the hallway to make sure both Angels were able to keep up.

* * *

**-a bumpety bomb in the road-**

The trio continued their trip through the FORTRESS OF NATURE in silence. The silence only interrupted by Phosphora, saying hello to some of her fellow coworkers who passed by. Pit said hello too but instead of a friendly greeting he got a eerie stare. It seemed like some of Viridi's forces still held a sort of grudge. Dark Pit remained silent.

"Hey? Pittoo?" Dark Pit blinked in surprise. Pit had caught him off guard while he had been thinking. Dark Pit didn't say anything back to him. Pit smiled at him, "You know Pittoo. I think you're nice!" he paused, "You're just a different type of nice! So sometimes people don't notice!"

Pittoo looked away and kept quiet. He hated how Pit could read him like an open book sometimes.

And he couldn't even read.

* * *

**-absolutely pitiful!-**

The cafeteria was located in the east side of the temple, fairly close to Phosphora's room. Which meant that both Angels had walked quite a while to get here. "Woah!" the trio finally entered the fabled FORTRESS OF NATURE'S cafeteria and Pit was amazed at the size of it. Pittoo was silently impressed.

Phosphora gave a smug smile. She knew Pit was easily impressed but she didn't think it would be that easy to impress him with such a simple location.

"Wow! This place is so small! I'm impressed you guys eat in here!"

* * *

**-once you eat a powdered donut off a gas station floor you can never go back-**

Regardless of the size of the place the pair of Angels were pleasantly surprised at the selection of food that they could choose from. Until today at this very moment in time, Dark Pit lived in fear that all Viridi had to eat in her temple was vegetables. Which was a large part of the reason as to why he visited Pit so often.

And sure, there were way more vegetables and fruits than any other food, but the cafeteria also had desserts!

There were donuts and cakes as far as the eye could see! Because believe it or not Viridi did have quite a soft spot for human desserts. _'Even a broken clock is right twice a day!' _she always said when asked about it.

But no matter how delicious the dessert there no forgiveness for human misdeeds. At least not yet.

In his excitement Pit managed to push past a crowd of Viridi's forces, including both Pittoo and Phosphora. He grabbed as many of his favorite desserts as he could carry. Which turned out to be a lot.

"Hey Pitstain! Leave some for the rest of us!" Pittoo pushed his way forward. While doing that he accidentally knocked Pit and his food onto the ground. He was fine of course but Pit was a little too worried about wasting food on the ground to be mad at Pittoo for pushing him over. "Pittoo! Wait your turn next time!" in the mess Pit only managed salvage three donuts and some sugar cookies that had broken to pieces on the ground, still edible according to him.

Dark Pit paid him no mind instead focused on what flavor of frozen yogurt he would get. This snowballed into Pit getting annoyed at being ignored.

Phosphora, having just returned from getting her favorite snack of ten brownies, continued doing her job of watching over the pair. _'They sure do argue a lot...'_ she thought to herself.

The pair of Angels were some of the oddest (and strongest but she would never admit that) people she'd ever meet. One minute they could be getting along so well you would think they had known each other their whole lives.

Phosphora raised an eyebrow, _'In a way they sorta have...?'_

Then after getting along, the very next minute they would be arguing. Almost on the verge of breaking out into a fist fight.

_'Maybe that's just some siblings are?'_ it's not like she knew. She'd never knew any or had one herself to compare Pit and Pittoo to. She looked at the Angels again, it seemed the confrontation had past and now Pittoo was helping Pit serve himself frozen yogurt and discussing what flavors they preferred.

Predictably they both liked the same flavors.

* * *

**-Arlon the Serene-**

Finding a place to sit wasnt hard. Viridi had built this place for her forces to eat in so there were tables and chairs all around. Sure, a lot of her forces don't actually sit down and are constantly in the air but don't bring that up unless you want to get an earful of excuses.

Phosphora sat across both Angels, continuing her mission. She was positive she would receive word from Viridi that she could stop. Any time now...

But the more time went on the more Phosphora felt that Viridi had forgotten all about them. Or had forgotten about the dumb orders she had given her. _'Who could handle watching over these guys for more than an hour?'_ Phosphora had a front seat view of watching the brothers see who could stuff the most cookies into their mouths. Unsurprisingly, there was no winner. Only two losers who almost chocked on white chocolate-chip cookies.

It took four more eating contests for Phosphora to finally catch her break. From the corner of her eye she spotted her ticket out of there.

And it came in the form of one of her fellow officers innocently coming in for a snack.

"Hey Arlon!" Pit stood up and waved, "What are you doing here?!"

"I live here Young Master Pit."

"Oh yeah..." he sat back down, embarrassed for the second time today. Pittoo gave a muffled laugh, half trying to hide it and half trying to eat a muffin he had snagged from Pit.

"Don't lie to the kid, Arlon." Phosphora flew up from her seat and over to where Arlon was observing the daily special. A yummy Mediterranean fruit salad made of only the freshest ingredients (home grown!).

"This guy only comes here when he feels like it. Sometimes even I forget he exists! No offense Arlon." she leaned on his shoulder. Arlon took a step back leaving Phosphora awkwardly floating by herself.

"What Miss Phosphora means to say is that; I don't often find myself in Mistress Viridi's temple. With the repairs of the-"

"YEAH YEAH! Real interesting Arlon I'm sure they're at the edge of their sets but can you follow me for a second?" Phosphora didn't wait for Arlon to answer her and pretty much dragged him just out of what she thought was the hearing range of both Angels. Though to be honest there was no need to calculate something like that when the two of them can cause their own distraction.

Once Phosphora stopped pulling him by his mustache Arlon spoke up," Just what is so important that you felt the need to interrupt my perusing and drag me only a few centimeters from where we were just standing?"

Phosphora opened her mouth to say something but paused.

Then she opened it again, "You know Arlon, just because you use the metric system doesn't mean you're any smarter than the rest of us."

"I use it because it is far more convenient Miss Phosphora."

"I'm sure you do."

Phosphora quickly zipped and zapped to the cafeterias exit, "Anyways! Mistress Viridi gave me orders to watch those two dorks but I'm sure you'd do a much better job than I've been doing. SO I'm officially passing on the torch to you! How lucky!"

"Now wait just a moment. I don't believe you have the authority to-"

All of a sudden, Viridi logged onto the Forces of Nature's group call. Neither of the two had even a slight chance to ask what she wanted or needed because as soon as she had made her presence known she spoke.

"Arlon. Stop talking. Watch Angels. Leave me alone. Be quiet! Phosphora! go do whatever it is you do!"

Then as quickly as Viridi had spoken up, she was gone.

* * *

**-munch munch its time for brunch-**

Out of all the possible outcomes that he considered would happen today, one he didn't consider was the one he was currently in.

He'd only come down to get Viridi's input on the current blueprints for the New! Lunar Sanctum. When he found out she was boocked solid for the entire day he decided to forgo his mission and instead take a quick detour to the cafeteria for a snack. Now here he was with an Angel guaranteed to talk his ear off and his brother who was very dedicated to breaking some sort of angry staring record.

On the upside, he managed to snag a croissant.

Pit bit into his powdered donut, the bite caused powder to sprinkle everywhere, including Arlon. He gently brushed off the sugar and tried to get Pit's attention.

"Young Master Pit?" Pit looked up at Arlon, his mouth too full of donut to properly answer him.

But bless his heart he tried his best.

"Mufwhsat arwlonffw?" he asked. Arlon didn't answer back, instead he grabbed a nearby napkin and wiped the rest of the powdered sugar off the table, "Might I suggest chewing before you try speak again?"

Pit looked away, absolutely appalled that he had forgot such basic manners. Lady Palutena would have been ashamed of him. If she were here, she would have probably dragged him away to give him a stern talking to.

Pit finally swallowed and opened his mouth to apologize but was interrupted by a loud burp. The two turned to see Pittoo finishing drinking a soda. Soda that he had been drinking with his chocolate donut. _'He didn't even say excuse me.'_ Pit thought, _'Lady Palutena would give him an earful if she was here.'_

"It would seem the two of you are more alike than I initially thought." Arlon gathered the leftover trash from his and Pit's meals and stood from his seat, making his way toward the garbage can.

"That guy sure is a bore." Pittoo said finishing the rest of his donut. pit nodded in agreement, "If you think he's such a bore Pittoo, why did you agree to help him back then?"

"I believe I told you the answer back then. Or is your memory that lacking Young Master Pit?"

The sudden sound of Arlon's voice caused both Angels to jump up slightly in their seats, and one almost chocked on his donut. "Don't scare us like that! You don't make any footsteps remember?!" Pit said standing up from his seat, a slight blush forming across his face.

A sly smile crossed Arlon's face, though with his large mustache in the way it was literally impossible to tell. "My apologies. Sometimes I forget just how quiet I can be." Arlon gave a little chuckle at the end of his apology.

"That wasn't even a joke..." or maybe it was and Pit just didn't get it.

He tended to do that a lot.

* * *

**-authority issues are the least of your problems-**

Now with both Angels, and Arlon's appetites taken care of for the moment. The new trio headed to another unknown and potentially dangerous location. But thanks to Arlon's help their new destination ended up being rather peaceful and...kind of boring.

Arlon had taken them to what seemed to be a large balcony of some sort.

Probably because it was a large balcony.

Unlike everything in the temple, the balcony was clearly man-made. It was a stone balcony built into the side of the tree. If Pit and Pittoo weren't standing on it at that very moment in time they would have never believed such a thing would have existed in Viridi's temple.

It's good thing they were getting so used to surprises.

Pit ran up to the edges of the balcony's railing and leaned on them almost to the point of climbing over them. Pittoo followed closely behind.

"I would advise both of you to keep your hands and feet on the balcony, Mistress Viridi seemed quite busy and I wouldn't want any unfortunate accident to happen while she is away. If you know what I mean."

Thanks to Arlon's ominous warning Pit backed away from the railing and admired the view from a good 91 centimeters away, as Arlon would put it.

On the other hand, Pittoo wasn't going to go down so easily.

"Young Master Pittoo did you not hear what I just said?" Pittoo remained leaning on the balcony. "Need I repeat my previous warning?" Pittoo twitched his wings, a sign that he was listening but not _listening _listening. "Pittoo just get off of there!" at the sound of Pit's voice he turned around, but still didn't move another muscle.

"Why should I? He's not the boss of us." he gripped the railing harder.

Pit gave a long sigh, he knew Pittoo had a problem with authority and taking orders but at the extent of his own safety? That seemed like a little too much for him. Sometimes Pittoo's whole thing was too much for even Pit himself. But he was willing to put up with it because, well that's just how Pittoo was.

"He's not my boss either Pittoo but I still listened to him! Oh, no offense Arlon."

Arlon ignored him.

Dark Pit was about to rebuttal that Pit would take orders from just about anyone, but he knew deep down that wasn't true. Palutena and Pit were a special case. A case he'd like to...

Pittoo shook his head to clear his thoughts, a common trait among Pit-kind apparently. "Okay fine! But for the record I'm only stepping down because I decided to!" Pit nodded in agreement and Arlon slightly moved his head, but he probably agreed with him too.

For his own sake.

After a few tense seconds Dark Pit released his grip from the balcony railings and walked over to join his twin.

"See now Young Master Pittoo? Was that so hard?

Dark Pit had no response.

* * *

**-well does he?-**

Pit looked up at Arlon from top to bottom.

Arlon simply starred at the 'much smaller than him' Angel.

This kept on going for a while, until Arlon cleared his throat with a cough in an attempt to get Pit's attention. "Young master Pit?" Pit seemed surprised to hear Arlon's voice. So surprised in fact he seemed to have come back from whatever daydream he had been in. "Is there something you would like to ask me?" Arlon continued.

Rather than quickly answer back Pit simply starred at him for a few more seconds. He looked to be deep in thought, but not too deep.

Pit tilted his head in confusion, "Hey Arlon, when you walk do you take big steps?"

Arlon answered with a prolonged bout of a lack of words.

* * *

**-supernatural yet super natural!-**

"Hey Arlon?" it sounded like Pit had yet another question for him. Arlon could only hope it wasn't as odd as the last one.

"Yes? Young Master Pit?" Arlon looked down to see that Pit had taken a seat on the floor almost right under him, his moodier twin instead decided to stand in the doorway at the exit of the balcony.

"Phosphora mentioned something about you not being around here a lot? Do you not like it here? Is there something you don't like about this place?" Pit asked.

Pittoo turned his head, trying to look as if he weren't trying his hardest to eavesdrop.

"It's just cause..." Pit looked back at his brother. He knew he was trying to listen in, but Pit hoped that he could be just quiet enough for his very secret question. "It's just cause I wanna know if there's something about this place that Pittoo doesn't like." Pit stopped to think for a second, "Something besides like Phosphora almost killing us. I mean like this place is too big for my liking. Then again..this place can't be any bigger than Lady Palutena's temple. I think? What do you think Arlon?"

Arlon did not respond.

"Wha-? Arlon did you listen to anything that I just said?" here Pit was asking a very personal question, in more ways than one, and he was being ignored! Wasn't Arlon supposed to be the more polite of the Forces of Nature? Well he was being pretty rude right now! Arlon adjusted his monocle, "For your information I have been listening to your plight with great interest Young Master Pit." Or at least with some mild interest.

"The truth is that I have just been away tending to my own matters." this piqued Pit's curiosity as well as Dark Pit's. "What kinda of matters? Are they important?" Pit was dying to know!

"If they were not important, I wouldn't be doing them. Now would I?"

"Oh."

From the doorway Dark Pit yelled, "Just hurry up and tell us what's important!" Arlon shook his head in disappointment. No one had taught either of these Angels how to behave, had they? He'd expected at least Palutena to have taught Pit basic manners but with Pit's interesting habits, that didn't seem to be the case.

"I have been making repairs to the Lunar Sanctum. That you two destroyed." Arlon stared at the angels with a playful glint in his eyes.

"Oh right! Sorry about that!" it seemed Arlon's intent was lost upon Pit, "But you did sorta shoot me with a giant laser and try to kill me so I think it balances out." While Pit was apologizing for destroying an entire base singlehandedly, his twin had stomped his way over to where the two were having their conversation. "If you ask me Arlon owes me an apology too!" Dark Pit demanded, much to the confusion of Pit AND Arlon.

"What exactly do I owe you an apology for Young Master Pittoo?" Arlon asked, genuine curiosity in his voice. Pittoo pouted, "One; don't call me that. AND TWO; for tricking me into doing your dirty work!" From the tone of his voice it was clear he was very upset about this. Pit looked at his brother then looked up at Arlon, who seemed to be thinking over Pittoo's accusations.

"That isn't quite how I remember it. I recall seeing a lone Angel trying to pick fights with underworld monsters. Then just as you were about to try your luck against a Clubberskull, I invited you to face your twin."

Pittoo crossed his arms and looked away.

"And you came running or flying to be more accurate."

"Because you told me I could fight Pit! You didn't say anything about the attack on your moon base!" it wasn't the fact that Arlon had deliberately hid information that made him mad.

Okay, maybe it was that. The alternative was that Dark Pit was actually directing his anger of falling for such a stupid trick at someone else instead of himself. Pit decided to stay quiet about his guess, or at least bring it up when Pittoo wasn't so volatile.

"I see." Arlon adjusted his monocle. Pit had his suspicious that he'd seen right through Pittoo's act. Then again, the only reason he knew how Pittoo really felt was because of their special connection.

Also, because they were very good friends who told each other everything ever.

"Well then Young Master Pittoo, on behalf of the Forces of Nature allow me to apologize for tricking and deceiving you." he gave a bow and for the first time he was on eye level with Dark Pit. "O-Okay that's enough! Don't make a big deal out of it!" said the Angel who was rapidly backpedaling from his big deal.

Pit smiled, he didn't quite understand what had just happened but as long as Pittoo was happy he figured it was fine.

But he couldn't help notice that from his view on the ground, he swore he saw Arlon smirking.

* * *

**-WRONG WRONG WRONG-**

Not even a few minutes after the last excerpt, a strange alarm rang. Both Pit and Pittoo were confused at the sudden noise and went on high alert. Pittoo already had his Silver Bow out, ready to shoot at anything out of the ordinary.

"Oh!" from his pocket Arlon took out what appeared to be a small pocket watch. It must have been that watch that was making the awful loud alarm noise.

"Shut that thing off already!" Pittoo put away his Silver Bow only after Arlon turned the ringing off. "What was that?" Pit asked. Putting away his watch Arlon turned to the pair and explained himself, "It would seem that our time together has come to an abrupt end. I've spent far too long here. I need to get back to the Lunar Sanctum, post haste."

He turned away from Angels and spoke one last time, "It was nice seeing you again Young Master Pit and you as well Young Master Pittoo." Pit gave a small wave goodbye, unsure of what to say. "I do so hate to disobey Mistress Viridi like this but I'm sure she would be more worried about a few stray Aurum troops than the two of you." Arlon chuckled, "No offense."

In the blink of an eye, Arlon was gone. leaving behind Pit and a very confused Pittoo.

"Stray **WHAT**?"

* * *

**-they dont make it back so you ll never see pittoos height chart in the shape of a giraffe-**

Without a guide or even a map the Angels had to rely on pure instinct to find their way back to Pittoo's room. Which they decided was now their destination.

"I have a ton of other games I can beat you in! I'll even let you use the good controller!"

Excited to compete in something else together the Angels wandered around the temple's endless hallways. Pit pointed out that they must have passed the same dirt mound around four times now but Pittoo simply told his twin to trust in him. And trust in him he did.

While heading to Pittoo's room Pit decided to take advantage of his good mood and start up a conversation.

"So what are we gonna play?" Pit asked. He was trailing just a bit behind Pittoo, keeping himself busy by running his hands on the wall. "Super Thrash Cousins of course!" Pittoo answered with an enormous amount of confidence for someone who pretty much had stolen a joke from someone else. Pit sighed, either his family loved this particular inside joke or both Pittoo and Lady Palutena didn't know the name of the game they were IN.

Deciding to switch topics Pit asked another question, "Did Viridi give you your room or did she let you choose?"

Pittoo stopped in his tracks and gave a large, "HA!" That wasn't the answer Pit had been expecting. It actually wasn't an answer at all. "You think I'd let Viridi choose something for me?!" Pittoo laughed again, "I choose the room of course! I ran and found the biggest one I saw!"

"It's not really that big..."

Pittoo made a hand motion that was intended for Pit to take it as a sign to shut up, but it sort of just looked like he was slicing the air around him in half. "It was the biggest room I could find okay?!" Pittoo crossed his arms and walked away. Clearly Pit didn't understand just how cool it was to choose your own room! He didn't even have to hang any stupid drawings in it! Or have dumb stuffed plushies of really cool Nintendo characters. Or really comfy bean bag chairs...

"Uh Pittoo?" Pit reached his hand over to give him a tap on the shoulder. His hand was grabbed by Dark Pit before he even got close.

"My room is better. End of story." Pittoo said, letting go of Pit's hand.

"W-We weren't even talking about that...?"

Thankfully Pit had never been good at reading the room. "Don't you think it would be cool to have a lava lamp?" he asked his eyes glimmering with the sheer amazement one feels when looking at a lava lamp. He'd always begged Lady Palutena for one but she never gave it more than a second thought.

"A lava lamp would be...really cool" Pittoo's eyes glimmered with the same sparkle in his eyes, betraying his cool headed response.

* * *

**-dont wake the clobbler-**

It was official. Pit and Pittoo had no idea where they were.

They didn't even know how close or far to Pittoo's room they were at this point. What they did know was that between them and they way forward lay a slumbering Clobbler.

Both Angels knew that despite its outwardly adorable appearance Clobbers were something to be feared, and for a good reason too. All it would take was one wrong move and both Angels would be finished. And with neither Viridi or Palutena at call there was no telling when they would come back.

Or if at all...

Pit gulped, "Maybe we should head back?" he took a step back making sure to make the least noise possible. "We could always find way?" he grabbed Pittoo's arm and lightly pulled him toward himself, "Come on Pittoo. Let's go." to Pit's relief Pittoo took a step backwards and for a moment it looked like everything was going to work out.

That is until Dark Pit pulled out his Silver Bow.

"NO!" Pit yelled, loudly. He didn't care that his scream would potentially wake up the Clobbler, he needed to make sure Pittoo didn't aggro it no matter what. In the end, even if Pit hadn't yelled the outcome would have been the same.

Dark Pit fired.

* * *

**-i have no idea what viridis place looks like and by this point im too afraid to ask-**

Dark Pit quickly dodged to the left, narrowly avoiding a punch from the enraged Clobber. Just a few moments ago Pit had not been so lucky and was regulated to the ever important position of 'hiding and running for his life', Pittoo's orders.

The Clobber could not tell the difference between the two Angels. So instead of attacking the one who had woken it up, it instead made a beeline straight for Pit. Just as the Clobber was going to clobber Pit into last year Pit's instincts decided to let him expertly dodge the Clobber's attack. This caused the Clobber to crash into a wall and become even more enraged. In its anger it lashed out to the first desirable figure it saw. Which was Dark Pit.

And that how the Angels now found themselves in a very dangerous predicament.

From Pit's hiding space there was no way to see who was wining and who was losing. The only things he heard were the sounds of an arrow hitting its mark and roars from the Clobber. He desperately hoped that latter would end soon, and not the other way around. There was another loud crash. _'Those have been happening a lot'_, Pit thought before his thoughts soon turned to worrying over the safety of his brother.

Pit could only hope that he was safe.

Pittoo meanwhile hoped that Pit was safe.

He confident that he could handle just one stupid Clobber, especially when he had his Silver Bow. Pit meanwhile, had no weapon at all! "Why wouldn't he just carry one around at this point?!" Pittoo shot a full charged shot at the Clobber, giving him time to create more distance between him and the one way ticket to whatever void he and Pit occupied while waiting to come back from being finished.

"Just go down already!" impatient to win Pittoo ditched the charge shots and began to shoot much weaker but faster shots at his target. The Clobber, already mad from several shots and near misses at the Angel charged right past the weak baby shots.

It pulled his hand back and revved up for a one-shot star punch.

"Oh no."

* * *

**-what would solve this? dying?-**

"Pittoo look out!"

Pittoo whipped his head in the direction he had heard Pit from. To his horror there was his brother running towards him. In a desperate act of needless self-sacrifice Pit pushed Pittoo out of the Clobbers way. There was no time for Pittoo to yell at his brother's stupid decision because the next thing he knew he was on the floor, with Pit nowhere to be seen.

"Pit?!" he sat up yelling almost too desperately for his liking. A thick layer of dust was covering his vision so yelling was the only way he could look for him. He could only hope Pit could hear him, wherever he was.

"Ooover hereee..." To Pittoo's shock Pit sounded like he was much closer than Pittoo had expected him to be. To his surprise his brother was laying down right next to him. By some miracle it seemed that they both had escaped the Clobber without a scratch.

As it so happened Pit had acted fast enough for him to push Pittoo and himself out of the way. Leaving the Clobber to run straight into another wall.

Stilla bit dazed from the attack the Angels looked over to where the Clobber had crashed and saw a massive hole in the wall. "Yeesh! I hope Viridi doesn't notice that." Pit said, standing up by himself. Dark Pit rolled his eyes. As if anyone would be able to miss a giant hole in their own house.

Suddenly from the hole emerged the Clobber. It was back to its adorable docile state. Aww it's so cute don't you just want to pinch its wittle cheeks?! Except don't because you would die!

Pit and Pittoo backed off and gave it enough space for it to waddle on back to where it had been sleeping earlier. Now would have been a good opportunity to attack it again and catch it off guard. But Dark Pit decided that he would rather not experience the last few minutes of his life again. So the Clobber could live, _for now_.

Not noticing his brother's staring contest with the Clobber Pit looked back at the massive hole created by the Clobber and looked closely into it. Inside the hole appeared to be a whole other room, a room filled with all sorts of trees and other nature-y knick-knacks. Pit tapped his brothers' shoulder to get his attention and sure enough Pit wasn't hallucinating there really was an orchard on the other side of the wall.

After regaining their balance, the brothers walked through the large hole and into the mysterious orchard.

Or they could have used the door that was just to the left of the giant Clobber shaped hole, but that wouldn't have been nearly as exciting.

* * *

**-a project 11 years in the making-**

"Hey Pit?"

Pit stopped his attempts to grab the highest apple of the tree to listen to what his brother had to ask. "Have you noticed this is the second garden we've visited?" Pit thought about Pittoo's question. He did have a point, it seemed like only yesterday that the two of them had stumbled on Palutena's own secret little garden. A garden that Pit pretty much forgot about right after he left it. "AND don't you think it's a little suspicious that we've eaten in all of these so far?" Pittoo added.

"I get hungry Pittoo!"

"You know what I mean!"

Pit thought for a while, again. "You mean? How we're already in a rut despite this only being the fourth chapter?" Pittoo nodded. "I try not to think too hard about it!" it's true he didn't.

"Just try to have fun Pittoo! Everything's fine if everyone's having fun right?"

Dark Pit groaned, "Getting electrocuted and attacked by a Clobber isn't my idea of 'fun'."

* * *

**-pit makes a friend-**

Pit grabbed the reddest and shiniest apple he could find and plucked it from the tree. The apple was so shiny he swore he could see his own reflection on it. Licking his lips he opened his mouth to take a bite. Suddenly from the corner of his eye he saw **it**.

A small caterpillar of mysterious origin crawled on the apple, nibbling curiously on a leaf that hung from the apple's stem.

Normally when one sees a bug on something that they were about to begin eating the proper thing to do would be to scream and throw it as far away from them as possible. But fortunately for the caterpillar Pit wasn't one to do things by the book. Instead he decided to hold on to the apple and watch as the caterpillar crawled onto the leaf and began eating it. Very _very_ slowly.

"Why are you eating that leaf when you could be eating the apple instead?"

From the outside looking in one might think that Pit was having a magical moment. The sort of moment that would bring an individual closer to nature.

What was actually going on was that Pit was trying very hard to read the caterpillar's mind to find out how it learned to fly when it grew up.

* * *

**-pittoo throws that friend-**

"Ew! A bug!"

Pittoo grabbed the apple that Pit held in his hands and threw it out the window of the room. "You know when I said you would eat anything, I didn't think that applied to insect infested fruit!" he wiped his hands on his clothes clean from touching the disgusting piece of fruit and went right back to peeling his orange.

Pit silently starred at the window where his new friend had been thrown and hoped it had landed safely.

In hindsight of no way to correctly and accurately describe Pit's emotions at this current moment in time using words, here is this handy image to describe it instead. Enjoy.

:(

* * *

**-mo su raaaaaaaaaYA-**

Pit took the last bite of his apple. All of it was gone, even the core and the stem.

"An Angel never wastes a piece of good food!" that was rule number ten of the Angel's Code of Conduct that Pit basically lives his entire life following. There was no way he was going to forgo it just because he wasn't at Palutena's temple, not back then not now.

Pit looked back at Pittoo, who had finally managed to peel his orange. The dark Angel had made the bold decision to try and peel it with his Silver Bow. Not taking into account that the Silver Bow was sharp enough to stab through an orange. _'That's probably why Pittoo threw all those oranges out the window.'_ Pit thought. Before he could think of what would happen to those oranges Pittoo took a seat next to him and offered him an orange slice. Which Pit happily accepted.

"If Viridi supposed to be so good at being the Goddess of Nature, why did she make a fruit that's IMPOSSIBLE to eat?!" Pit had no answer for Pittoo's question. One reason being he just didn't know and the other reason being that he was trying to chew an orange.

"I'm starting to suspect she's not that good at her job. Everything that's happened today to us just proves me right!"

Pit finally swallowed his slice, "What makes you say that?"

"Are you serious? You're not pulling my leg?"

Pittoo rewinded the events of the past few hours to Pit in vivid detail, even though Pit had been there the whole time. First there was Phosphora and her insistence of following them because of Viridi's orders.

"Then she just ditches us?! What happened to following orders?"

Then there was Arlon, who received orders from Viridi as well but had mysteriously disappeared even faster than Phosphora. "Don't even get me started on this entire place!" Pittoo stood up quickly and kicked the dirt at his feet, as if that very action would inconvenience Viridi herself.

"This place is impossible to live in! There's not even a map! It's way too humid! The environmental noises are always too loud! No one every says hello or anything to-"

In another brief moment of self recognition Pittoo stopped talking. He slowly turned to Pit desperately hoping he had tuned out for the last few seconds. To his disappointment Pit looked to be waiting patiently for Pittoo to continue whatever he had been talking about.

"-and I...I need new pillows."

"Are you okay Pittoo?"

Pittoo opened his mouth to answer Pit's question but instead of his own voice he heard what sounded like the fluttering of thousands of tiny wings.

"What the-?!" the pair of twins looked around frantically as to what could be making the noise. It could be a flock of birds, or some of Viridi's troops or even Centurions coming to pick Pit up and take him home. The endless possibilities filled the heads of both Angels. Nothing could have prepared the two for the truth.

The truth that came flying through the open windows.

Thousands upon thousands of butterflies (or moths) came flying inside. All of them varying in species and size. The insects weren't malicious or attacking the Angels, but it was certainly very overwhelming. Pit and Pittoo ducked down to avoid getting hit or accidentally swallowing one of the rampaging bugs.

"Where did they come from?!" Pittoo asked once he knew he was well below the flying butterflies (or moths.) "Maybe Viridi heard you say those mean things about her?" Pit tried to joke with Pittoo but he dismissed it.

Suddenly, a lone butterfly (or moth) flew away from the swarm and landed on Pit's head. Pittoo's natural instinct kicked in and he attempted to swat it away, thankfully the butterfly moved away in the nick of time. Unfortunately, he hit Pit's head pretty hard. "OW!" while rubbing the top of his head in pain Pit saw the same butterfly (or moth) again but this time it was flying just in front of him. It didn't take long for him to put two and two together.

"Crawly? Is that you?! I thought Pittoo threw you out the window?!"

"Is that the-You named it?! When did you have time to do that?!"

Ignoring all laws of nature and physics Pit was convinced that the very butterfly (or moth) that flew before him was the same caterpillar that Pittoo had chuckesterd out of a window just a few minutes before. Pittoo wasn't so easily convinced. He was pretty sure Pit just attracted it because he still smelled like fruit.

Come to think of it they both did.

Then like clockwork, the swarm turned their attention from the fauna and instead to Pit and Pittoo.

"Uh oh."

* * *

**-skeletons in the closet-**

After running away from the swarm of thousands of what Pittoo called _'angry rampaging butterflies or moths or WHATEVER' _the two out of breath teens stumbled (literally) upon what seemed to be a storage room. Judging from the assorted items that Pit and Pittoo both tripped over and knocked down it wasn't organized in the slightest. Pit could have even sworn that he saw something that belonged to him in one of the large piles that Pittoo had fallen into.

"Why is all this stuff in here?!" Pittoo threw a royal blue scarf that had fallen off his head to the side in annoyance. It flopped down just a few inches from him.

Pit stood up and shook various trinkets off himself. "I guess you gotta keep your mess somewhere right."

"I knew Viridi's temple couldn't be this clean without cheating."

After a while and three instances of Pit telling Pittoo not to touch something, both Angels finally made their way back outside.

Once outside it seemed their suspicions were semi-correct. Instead of a storage room it looked to be a room where everybody was free to throw stuff in that they didn't want. At least, that's what Pittoo told Pit after around four minutes of slowly reading the faded-out sign in front of the door. Pit cheered him on every second along the way of course.

"Wow Pittoo! I can't believe you've learned so much already that's amazing!" he flapped his wings rapidly, excited for his brothers' accomplishments. "Maybe once you're an expert you can teach me!" Pittoo thought about how hard it would be to teach Pit anything, especially considering how easily distracted and forgetful he tended to be. Then again if he didn't give Pit a chance, would anyone?

"Fine." he agreed. Pit gave a cheer and jumped for joy.

As soon as Pit landed from his jump both Angels heard a small _**'POP!**__'_ It looked like something had fallen off of Pit and landed right under them.

Their heads darted down and they were both greeted by a small newly activated Bouncy Bomb.

* * *

**-bring in EVERYONE-**

A powerful explosion rocked the northern part of the temple.

This particular part of the temple was the part Viridi's throne room was closet to. The explosion was so close and so strong it was more than enough to knock her off her feet.

While trying to get up from the ground she heard Poseidon sigh. _'He's probably thinking about how that wouldn't have knocked him down!'_ she thought. "Well I'm going to tell him to can it!" she angrily yelled out loud for everyone to hear.

"Tell who to _'can it'_?"

"You! You blowhard! Didn't you hear me?!" before Poseidon could utter another word, she smashed the mute button on him once again and attempted to contact another of her generals. Oddly enough as hard as she tried she couldn't get in touch with either Phosphora or Arlon. "What a bunch of slackers..." that left her with her last resort.

"Cragalanche! I have a job for you!"

* * *

**-surprised the FORTRESS OF NATURE isnt on fire by now-**

In a complete panic Pittoo kicked the Bouncy Bomb away from them. But just like it was intended to do, the Bouncy Bomb came bouncing back with as much force as Pittoo had kicked it with. Thinking fast Pit took Pittoo's Silver Bow and managed to shoot the Bouncy Bomb in midair. For a few seconds Pit felt proud of himself for thinking fast on his feet.

Then the Bouncy Bomb exploded, sending both Angels flying back right into a wall.

Leaving behind a charred crater in Viridi's temple.

The brothers held their breaths. Hoping that Viridi wouldn't finish them off right where they stood. After a few minutes of silence, they both sighed in relief. Pit stood up, still dizzy from the explosion. "That was too close!" he reached out his hand to his twin to help him up. Dark Pit gave a "Hmph." and stood up by himself.

The Angels looked over the damage the Bouncy Bomb had left. Luckily for everyone the explosion wasn't nearly strong enough to blow a hole through Viridi's temple. "That could have been a lot worse. Good job with that shot Pit." Pittoo congratulated his brother and held his hand out. Pit, unsure of what to do gave him a small low five. "Thanks Pittoo!" he said beaming with pride, he was right that had been a good shot!

Pittoo tried to say something back but found himself tripping over his own words. "A-bu-I didn't want a high five you idiot!" he pointed to the Silver Bow still in Pit's hands, "I want my bow back! You forgot you were holding it didn't you?!" Pit laughed nervously, he completely forgot he'd taken it from Pittoo but in his defense...

...Okay well there was nothing he could really say to defend himself at this point actually.

Without a word Pit handed Dark Pit his Silver Bow back. Dark Pit happily took it, with not even a thank you but if you'd ask him complimenting Pit on his shot was thank you enough. "Now let's-

**BOOM!**

A loud BOOM came from behind them. They both feared that somehow the Clobber from earlier had found them again. Almost by instinct Pit stood in front of his brother, ready to protect him despite the fact that if anything happened to him Dark Pit wouldn't be too far behind in joining him. But it's not like he cared about any of that.

After the initial panic wore off the twins found themselves face to face not with a Clobber.

But with a giant rock.

"Cragalanche! Don't scare us like that!" Pit said, right before he was pushed away by Pittoo, who finally registered what Pit had tried to do.

"Would you STOP doing that?!"

"I just didn't want you to get hurrrrt!"

Throughout the brother's small squabble Cragalanche, like always, remained silent.

* * *

**-king of the cragalanche-**

Having spent most of their life as a large rock Cragalanche was very much used to being treated as, well a rock. It was because of that he had no real problem with two Angels trying to repeatedly climb him like a mountain.

It was kind of flattering. They thought he was like a mountain. That was nice.

Cragalanche's rocky thoughts were interrupted by the figure of Pit falling in front of him. Looks like Pittoo won the game, again.

"No fair! Pittoo! There's room up there for the both of us! So quit hogging it!" Pit stomped his feet in anger, he was getting quite tired of being kicked off Cragalanche over and over again.

"Maybe if you were actually trying, you'd be able to get up here too." Pittoo laid down on top of Cragalanche. he regretted it almost immediately since lying down on solid rock is never comfortable. But whatever, he probably looked cool to Pit from where he was standing so he was willing to put up with the slight pain.

Cragalanche on the other stone couldn't even feel him. Probably because rocks don't have nerves but I don't think you're here for a biology lesson so let's continue.

"Stop trying to look cool!" Pit yelled from way down below. "Sorry Pitstain! I can't hear you from all the way up here!" Pittoo said responding to Pit's plea.

"Oh, okay. I guess I'll just yell louder. **IS THIS BETTER PITTOO?!**"

if Cragalanche had ears he probably would have winced at how loud Pit yelled.

* * *

**-third times the charm—**

Pit decided to take a break from the game to talk to Cragalanche.

"Hey Cragalanche! It's nice to see you again!" Pit yelled, standing behind Cragalanche trying to get his attention. Cragalanche quickly turned around at the sound of the Angel's voice, as fast as a giant rock creature could.

They both said nothing.

"So?" Pit leaned in close, making sure Cragalanche could hear him. "What are you doing here Cragalanch?" Per the norm Cragalanch remained silent.

Pit darted his head from side to side making sure no one was around to hear. "...I live here Pit." Pit said in a tough sounding voice. Cragalanche was a rock so of course he would sound tough.

* * *

**-it stormed the day i wrote this outline so you can imagine the kind of stress I was under-**

Pittoo tried to kick Pit off again.

He missed but he also managed to miss kicking Cragalanche by a few inches. Something he hadn't noticed, but if he had he'd be grateful that Cragalanche moved to avoid getting hit.

Contrary to his calm outwardly demeanor, Cragalanche was getting very tired of taking care of both of them. Especially when he couldn't even see them. At the risk of being scolded by Viridi, Cragalanche decided to discipline the Angels the only way his large rock brain knew how.

He reached up and grabbed the angels, both gasping in surprise. Pulled his arms back, **AND** gently put both Angels down on the ground.

"Thank you?" Pit said, very confused at the string of events that had just occurred. He and his brother tried to read Cragalanche's expression for any clue as to why he had done that but there was no chance.

"Did he fall asleep?" Pittoo boldly stated, Pit quickly shushed him so he wouldn't wake up Cragalanche. Just in case he had fallen asleep. Then there was a noise. A noise that sounded just like the sound of a bunch of rocks stirring to life.

Cragalanche began to shake. Smaller rocks fell from him and gathered around the ground where he stood.

Pit and Pittoo, despite standing a few feet from him could fell the shaking beneath their feet as well. "Wh-W-What's happening?!" because of the shaking Pit struggled to ask his question. A little after asking his question the shaking knocked him off his feet and onto the ground.

Now that Pit was closer to the ground, he not only had trouble talking he couldn't quite hear very well either. But he could swear he heard his twin yell out his name. He sounded...scared?

He didn't get time to answer because the shaking stopped right after that. Pit looked up to see that Pittoo managed to hold his ground and stay standing. Pit would have been proud if he wasn't too busy being confused.

Pittoo meanwhile sighed in relief, Pit was okay. They were okay.

There was another noise from Cragalanche. Pit quickly stood up and ran to Pittoo, he stood in front of him in an attempt to protect him. Something Pittoo didn't notice or didn't care about because he didn't do anything about it.

The Angels held their breaths.

Cragalanche lightly shook and took a step forward. Then another, then he took a step to the side. Very soon after many steps Cragalanche had left and left both Angels behind.

Where he had decided to go was a secret to everyone but them.

Dark pit yelled at Cragalanche to come back and fight them but Pit was just happy they were okay.

* * *

**-there was also a fire less than a mile from my house-**

"What a coward." Dark Pit gave up on challenging Cragalanche to a fight. "He's probably too scared to fight me because he knows I'll win." he boasted with the usual amount of confidence he showed to just about everyone. Both Angels were a little curious as to where Cragalanche had gone but after his weird attack on them they were more willing to let him cool down on his own.

"I wonder if he got mad because we tried climbing on him?" Pit said. He made the smart decision to climb on his back after the first few couple of attempts but that didn't change the fact that he had also almost poked Cragalanche's eye when trying to climb him the first few times.

"Who cares!? He should have just said something instead of trying to **KILL US**." Pit couldn't help but agree with Pittoo's completely factual statement.

But there was something that he just had to ask.

"Pittoo? You know Cragalanche doesn't talk right?"

"What."

* * *

**-unfounded revenge-**

Dark Pit let out a loud scream. Said scream was had been the result of a rather hectic day, building up in volume all the way to this very moment. All the hours of frustration and danger added to the ferocity of it.

Needless to say, Dark Pit was very upset.

"This place is a nightmare! I should have never gone out of my room!" stomping around in anger Dark Pit kicked at the floor. A cloud of dust from the floor blew up and into his face. Further fanning the flames of his anger. "And would it kill Viridi to get some real floors?!"

Pit could do nothing but watch his brother let out his frustrations as he moved from kicking the floor to kicking the nearest wall. Until the wall blew dirt into his face at least. He suspected that if Viridi's temple had feelings they for sure would have been hurt by now.

Pit also couldn't help but feel that this entire thing was mayyybe his fault. It was him that set off the chain of events that lead them outside. If he apologized would that make things better? At this rate it was hard to tell but it was worth a try.

"I'm sorry about all this Pittoo." Dark Pit stopped mid kick, caught off guard by Pit's apology. "If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have gone out. And then we wouldn't have almost died like maybe five times?" Pit hoped that would be enough for all this to be water under the bridge, but Dark Pit's expression grew more enraged. The complete opposite of what he prayed would happen.

"Shut up! You don't get to be sorry! It's not your fault! It's this entire place! It's terrible!" he kicked the wall harder than before, "You hear me Viridi!" It was horrifyingly clear to Pit that he needed to calm Dark Pit down here and now, but he was at a loss on how to. And because of the circumstances there was no time to think of any plans!

"Pittoo! You can't blame Viridi! We haven't even seen her all day!" hearing himself say that made him think for a moment that maybe things would have been easier if Viridi had been around. Or they could have gone a million times worse it was always hard to tell with Gods.

Shaking those thoughts out of his head Pit continued, "Besides none of this would have happened if I hadn't come over!"

Dark Pit thought for a moment.

"You mean, none of this would have happened if Palutena didn't send you over. Right?"

* * *

**\- land and sea, black and white-**

Inside the throne room, a conversation between both brothers could be heard. Despite being muffled by the walls between them Viridi could tell they were both having some sort of fight. About what? She couldn't tell, or care. She was almost at her wits end now and Poseidon was only making it worse.

She sighed, "Listen Poseidon! You and I both know we're not going to settle this today. So, how about we just pick up this little _'discussion'_ some other day. What do you say?" her voice was oddly calm. Clearly, she was showing a great amount of restrain to just not tell Poseidon to shut up and get out of her sight before she Reset Bombed the entire ocean.

Ironically the argument they had been having all day had been going on for almost a millennium now.

"Very well Viridi. But you'll have to accept one of these days that whales are a permanent resident of my oceans." Poseidon's wise words were betrayed by his expression, which showed clear signs of impatience.

"And I'm telling you they didn't get to fully appreciate their new home before they made the dumb decision of going back!"

Thankfully before the argument could fully start up again there was a crash from outside, reminding Viridi what really took priority at this very moment in time. A bunch of stupid whales could wait their turn.

Knowing he was mere seconds from being ignored for another hundred years Poseidon attempted to get another word in.

"Viridi consider for a moment why the whales decided to return to the ocean after spending only a few years on land? Don't you agree that maybe you could have made their new home more hospitable towards them? That is your job after all, Goddess of Nature."

Then something happened that Poseidon had not expected, Viridi thought about what he said.

"Yeah, nah. Pretty sure it was because all your other dumb sea animals had the same idea and that resulted in a lack of food and overpopulation of the land around them. Which for the record wasnt my fault!" without another word she hung up on the Ocean God, grabbed her staff and bolted out of her throne room

* * *

**-i was too lazy to write a verbal fight (thats next chapter)-**

Viridi walked in on quite a scene.

Whatever arguing had occurred ended just before she arrived. Now she was witnessing the aftermath. In one corner of the room was Pit, who looked like he was trying his best to not be seen by anyone. He was also unnaturally quiet.

On the other side of the room was Dark Pit, trying his best to look unbothered and cool but from the way his wings were sadly drooping he wasn't feeling as collected as his appearance let on. Then there was the mysterious black scorch mark on her floor. She had more than a sneaking suspicion that they were also responsible for that, but she would have to ask about that later.

Right now, it was time to deal with a pair of moody teenagers.

* * *

**-shelter-**

She decided to try talking to Dark Pit first, figuring that he would be able to explain the situation better than Pit. He seemed the most levelheaded of the pair, most of the time.

"Hey, Pittoo." from the way Dark Pit jumped Viridi guessed that he hadn't noticed her come in. "What do you want?" he was more caught off guard from hearing Viridi speak so casually to him.

He couldn't even come up with a proper comeback. Mostly because there was nothing to come back to. "So what have you two been doing all day?" even though she asked him, Viridi didn't give Pittoo any time to think of a fake answer, "You know besides making my generals run around all day, blowing things up and BEING ANNOYING!"

Pittoo flinched from just how loud Viridi was. He thought having her yell in his head was bad enough but this was just so much worse.

"Are you going to answer me?!" she yelled again, her voice growing more demanding.

"Why would I? You pretty much got everything down." Pittoo answered. He looked away, trying his best to avoid eye contact, "So why don't you go back to doing your super important thing already and leave me alone?"

Viridi grit her teeth, she couldn't believe what she about to say and every fiber of her being was screaming at her to shut up or run. "Because I was worried?!" she quickly covered her mouth and turned away from Pittoo, hoping that by some miracle he hadn't heard her.

But he had and he was just as horrified as Viridi. "What did you say?" he asked, secretly hoping that he wasn't mistaken. Viridi didn't answer.

"She said she was worried!" from the other side of the room came a small voice. Pit walked only a little bit closer, still keeping his distance. "I mean that's why Lady Palutena assigns Centurions to watch over me sometimes, I figured Viridi was doing the same thing." Pit noticed the confused look on Pittoo's face and it finally clicked. The reason why Pittoo seemed so annoyed at every general that spent time with them, why he didn't trust them, and probably the reason why he hadn't talked to anyone here before.

"Pittoo, don't tell me you didn't think about that? Did you?"

"I just thought she was trying to annoy me." Pittoo shrugged, "Into going away or something, I guess. It makes sense."

During all of this Viridi had stayed quiet. This was incredibly unlike her, almost to the point where if someone knew her very well they would be worried about her. Just as Viridi came up with an excuse for her behavior she suddenly felt her hair starting to stand up on its end.

"Whaaat? Get you to go away? Why would Mistress Viridi want to do that?!"

A bright flash lit up the room for a second and then in the very next Phosphora appeared. "I mean you're basically one of the strongest people here why would she want you to leave?"

'_So that's it huh?'_ he thought, all he was good for was fighting. Palutena had been right all along. Pittoo glared at Viridi who didn't even have time to defend herself before the next unexpected guest arrived.

"What I think Miss Phosphora means to say it that we all greatly appreciate your presence here."

Like a sudden gust of wind at a Kindergarten picnic, Arlon made his grand entrance. Much to the surprise of nearly everyone in the room. "We may not converse much on a daily basis, but we would greatly take all opportunities to bond and grow closer to you, Young Master Pittoo." Arlon explained.

Both Angels and Phosphora tilted their heads in confusion. "Those were a lot of big words. Could you maybe say them again but a little slower this time?" Pit asked in embarrassment. in his defense he was the only one of the three bold enough to ask for an explanation.

"Ugh! What Arlon means to say is that we just want to get to know you better Pittoo!" deafening silence followed Viridi's outburst. That is until, amidst quiet giggles and Pittoo's wide eyed stare, did she realize her mistake, "Wait! What I mean to say is uh- I- you-! Augh!"

"Why didn't you just come up and talk to me then?" Pittoo was well past the point of being indirect, he needed answers and he needed them now. Being direct was more of his style anyway.

The answer to his question came in the most unlikely of places, Pit. "They probably just wanted to give you your space Pittoo. Until you got settled in!" he smiled, Pittoo didn't think there was much to smile about given the current situation.

"Aha!" Phosphora snapped her fingers and all eyes turned to her." That's exactly what Viridi told us! Down to the very last word! Go figure." Viridi had a large urge to toss Phosphora out the nearest window.

"You guys really did care?" that question came from Pit but it sounded as if Dark Pit himself had asked it instead. Must have been another quirk from the twin thing.

"But of course Young Master Pit! And I would be beholden to mention that Mistress Viridi cares quite a large amount for you as well." Viridi felt that now Arlon would join Phosphora in whatever hole she would end in after she threw her out the window. "Oh that's...nice." now it was both Angels that were embarrassed.

"Yeah, like Viridi wouldn't have given us strict orders if she didn't care about you losers."

"I second that. Mistress Viridi doesn't often give out such dire orders such as those. Unless she is deadly serious."

*rock noise*

In the middle of the conversation Cragalanche had rolled in. How no one heard or managed to see him is up to interpretation. "Hey big guy! Nice of you to join us on this emotional adventure." Phosphora slapped his rocky shoulder which ended up hurting way more than she thought it would.

"Enough!" Viridi finally shouted. She was as red as a rose. Both with embarrassment and anger at her generals for speaking about their PRIVATE conversations in front of someone who didn't even work for her!

"This conversation is over! I just came over to-"

"To make sure Pit and Pittoo were all right!" Phosphora finished for her.

"No!" she was horrifying close to Reset Bombing her own temple at this rate. "I...I didn't..." Viridi caught a glace of the two Angels that had ruined her day. Pit's stare shifted from her to Pittoo, he held his hands together looking as if he were praying that everything would turn out okay. Pittoo's expression was something Viridi had never seen from him.

He looked slightly hopeful.

It finally dawned on her that she really did care about them, didn't she? She cared about everyone in this room, but the Angels were a special case. It was something she couldn't explain. Was it the time they spent together fighting in the last war? Was it their fighting skills? Or was it just a connection that couldn't be explained, just like both Angels themselves. Whatever the case Viridi had to accept that yes, her Generals were right.

She did care. She cared about them.

But clearly not enough to notice the bigger picture.

After what seemed to be an eternity of silence, Viridi spoke. "I just-I guess we-" she glared at her generals who feigned ignorance the situation by acting as natural as they could, "...Didn't exactly roll out the welcoming committee did we?"

"To be fair I wasn't planning on staying here longer than a week. and..." Pittoo hesitated before continuing, "...I guess I didn't give you guys a chance either so-"

"You all made mistakes! Alright!" Pit jumped for joy and cheered. And no one could stop him, because for once it seemed he was the smartest person in the room.

* * *

**-everythings a competition with you two isnt it?-**

"This is it?"

"Yup."

The room Pit had brought them to after wandering around for far too long was small. And that was being generous. It even seemed to be purposely tucked away in a far dusty corner just begging to be forgotten about.

Both angels looked on in silence in front of the small room that, as Pit had said 'He crashed in'. "Where did you even find room to sleep in this thing?!" Dark Pit tried to step into the room but was stooped as a pile of brooms that was leaning on the wall collapsed near his feet. "I slept standing up!" Pit answered not noticing the look of complete disappointment that Dark Pit was giving him

"Though it looks like Viridi turned my old room into a broom closet or something? That's weird..."

Dark Pit lazily kicked the pile of brooms back into the "new" closet and slammed the door shut. "Guess I win the better room contest then." he said proudly.

"Yeah yeah..."

They walked back to Pittoo's room. With the contest of what room they would both spend the night in over and done with. It was decided Dark Pit would get the bed and Pit would get the floor and a sleeping bag right next to Pittoo's bed.

* * *

**-"wow you poor guy! you really need to make some friends!"-**

Centurion training day had gone on longer than Palutena had anticipated so she asked Viridi to please let Pit sleep over for one night. To which Viridi had gladly agreed to, but not after some good old-fashioned arguing.

She let Pit know that he was going to be sleeping over and he seemed excited as well as confused as to what a sleep over was. _'Geez! didn't Palutena teach this kid anything'_ she would cross that bridge when they got there she supposed. And while she was at it, she also let him know why he had even been sent here in the first place.

_"What?! If Lady Palutena had just told me not to help I would have listened!"_

Viridi laughed remembering just how dumbfounded Pit was at the reason he was sent here in the first place. Pit was one of the most genuinely honest people she had ever meet. More than half of that was probably because he was too dumb to lie, but it was still nice. Pittoo was the same way just a little more direct. Is that why talking to either Angel felt odd? Because when all your companions and friends are Gods and Goddess', honesty isn't something that you come across too often.

Maybe that's why Palutena liked Pit so much?

Because she was as weird as him.

Before heading off to bed she checked up on everyone one last time. Activating her All Seeing Waterfall she got a clear image of Pit and Pittoos whereabouts. Both Angels were now sitting together in Pittoo's room. They were joined by Phosphora, Arlon and even Cragalanch (who had been lovingly placed just outside the door.) The group were watching Pit play a video game. Which one it was, Viridi couldn't tell. But he was being cheered on by everyone there, his twin cheering the loudest of the bunch.

Just as Viridi was about to finally head to bed she heard even more loud screaming. She braced for the worst, but a quick check revealed that the screaming was not of fear, but of joy.

Pit finally made it to the top of Corona Mountain.

* * *

**-a whale of a time—**

It was around sunrise when Viridi awoke. Well, bolted awake was more like it. Somehow in the middle of the night while she slept Poseidon's last question had echoed in her head.

_"Viridi consider for a moment why the whales decided to return to the ocean after spending only a hundred years on land? Don't you agree that perhaps you could have made their new home more hospitable towards them? That is your job after all, Goddess of Nature."_

And with the events of the past day still fresh in her mind, it didn't take a genius to put two and two together and find a loose connection. Or at least a vague one. She sprung from her bed, not even take the time to change from her pajamas, to give Poseidon a call. She was practically bouncing in excitement as the call finally went through.

"OH! I GOT HIM NOW! JUST YOU WAIT POSEIDON!"


	5. Pittoo gets bored

**In which Pittoo is Bored**

* * *

**-sometimes friends be busy-**

Dark Pit sat on the edge of his bed, staring out the window as another cool Autumn day slipped by.

At this point he couldn't be more sick of them. It wasn't that the weather got colder with each day or even that night came earlier now. Though that last one was probably the reason why he was feeling sleepier earlier than usual.

No, the reason why he was so tired of Fall or Autumn or WHATEVER was because he had nothing to do!

For the past few weeks or so all of his new 'friends' had suddenly been tasked with new exciting assignments that had nothing to do with him. Would he had gone with if they had asked? Of course not! Still, it would have stung less if he was asked to go at least, but nooooo. No one had even so much as glanced at him.

In fact, the only reason he'd found out about their assignments was because of his tendency to stick his nose where it didn't belong.

For instance, when Dark Pit decided to sneak into Viridi's room to borrow her hairbrush he had overheard her ordering Phosphora to continuing monitoring something he hadn't quite understood. Something about an 'aura'? Whatever. It didn't matter to him, so he paid it little mind.

Then, the next day when sneaking into Viridi's room to borrow her divine hairdryer he happened to also overhear her ask Arlon about the state of repairs of the Lunar Sanctum. He only heard one side of the conversation but from Viridi's tone of voice it was clear it wasn't going as fast as she wanted it to.

"Just get your butt in gear Arlon and make it happen!" is what she had said. Boy, was he glad he wasn't in Arlon's position.

THEN there was the time he snuck into Viridi's room...again, to steal one of her blankets. He heard her giving Cragalanche an earful for sneaking out without her permission. Up until that point it seemed ridiculous to ground a rock but somehow Viridi did it.

And that was how Dark Pit found himself in his current very **BORING** predicament.

The only person he could even hang out with now was Viridi or any of her other troops in the Forces of Nature. And Pittoo knew from experience that most of her troops could only carry a conversation for so long.

Except Cacaws, those guys always talked way too much.

Dark Pit gave a heavy sigh and fell backwards onto his bed.

* * *

**-viridi? its me Pittoo-**

"Viridi."

"..."

"Viridi."

"..."

"Vi! Ri! Di!"

"...Wwwwhat do you WANT PITTOO?!" Viridi slammed both of her hands onto the windowsill she had been leaning on. Pittoo had now been telepathically calling her for the past twenty minutes,

Was this a game to him?! To see how much he could get under a God's skin until they decided to smite him? Viridi knew he wasn't the biggest fan of them but even he had to have some sort of life preservation skills, right? _**Right?! **_

"Whyyy did I even hire him?" she gave an exasperated sigh. She knew the answer to that question but there was no way she was going to think about it now. Not with the slight chance of Dark Pit still being on the line.

"Viridi!"

"I said WHAT!"

"Really? I must have missed that."

Viridi swore sometimes he was as scatterbrained as his twin.

"Anyway, I need a favor." typical of Dark Pit to only talk to her when he needed something.

It was never _'Oh, hey what's up Viridi' _or _'How are you doin' Viridi?_' It was always_ 'When's breakfast Viridi?_' or _'Viridi can you give me the Power of Flight already I've been falling for ten minutes!_' He was such a brat sometimes! So her answer was obvious.

"That depends! What is it?"

Dark Pit did not answer back.

"Hello? Hey, Pittoo you asked me to do something so what-"

Then the doors to Viridi's throne room swung open. Viridi, too surprised to even scream simply stared at whatever decided to come into her throne room completely unannounced. And to the surprise of literally no one it was indeed, Dark Pit.

"P-Pittoo?! Don't you ever knock?!-You know what let me answer that. NO YOU DONT!" her patience was at its end and she was one outburst away from sending him back to his room and leaving him there.

"Wha-? I came to tell you want I wanted?"

"Couldn't you have told me over telepathy?!"

"I...could have but I think this way is...easier?" truth be told the possibility of just asking her via telepathy hadn't crossed his mind. Once he had an idea in mind he simply just did it. He was sort of an impulsive guy.

"Ugh whatever! You're here and there's nothing I can do about it now!" she took a seat on her throne finally ready to hear Dark Pit out, "So. What do ya want?"

"I.." he seemed embarrassed at what he was about to ask, Viridi raised a curious eyebrow at what it could possibly be. She wasn't curious for long as Dark Pit finally worked up the courage to finally finish asking.

"I wanna go to Skyworld." Viridi thought about bringing up how his eyes lit up when he said 'Skyworld' but she had something better to tell him instead.

"Absolutely not. Get out of my throne room."

* * *

**-back at it again at skyworld-**

"Are you serious?! Just like that?!"

"Just like that. Have a nice fall Pittoo!"

"Whatever."

As Pittoo was ready to turn away to mope in his room he found himself tripping over a misplaced marble column and hitting the stone floor face first.

He had been transported to Skyworld, just as he asked.

Unfortunately, he never made it clear where exactly he wanted to be dropped so he was at the mercy of Viridi's whim in that regard. He groaned, slowly picking himself up from the ground.

His instincts told him Viridi had planned for that to happen, she was probably having a laugh at his faceplant and her_ 'Have a nice fall!' _joke. No doubt she was probably losing her mind over how funny she thought that was. But whatever he got what he wanted, and he could take pride in that he managed to get Viridi to do something he wanted.

The new problem now was that he had no idea where in the temple he was. "Great." he looked around, trying to pick a direction to start walking in. No matter which direction he choose he was bound to run into at least one Centurion. Or if he was lucky, Pit.

"Mono-Eye-Or-Mik! Keep-On-Going! But! Just! Take! Your! Pick!"

Using the magical direction picking rhyme he knew for some reason, Pittoo decided that going left would be the best option to head in.

The worst that could happen was getting lost after all.

* * *

**-welcome to palutenas temple! you are here!-**

A bit of familiar scenery was all Pittoo needed to finally wrap his head around where he was in Palutena's temple.

'_Honestly, would it kill Palutena to have some sort of visual map around here?'_ he thought. To her credit there were plenty of signs around, but Pittoo's early reading abilities were nowhere near good enough to decipher those yet.

Thankfully he was very good at map making in his head.

Near the area he first started in he could see the Hot Springs Pit had taken him to, along with Phos and Lux. From there he was able to make his way to the stables where Phos and Lux both slept. He thought about passing by to say hello but knowing Pit he probably let them out to run by now.

Past the stables was a dead end, or at least a dead end for a flightless Angel. He was about to consider calling Viridi to lend the Power of Flight for a second but then he spotted his lifesaver.

A Pitty bridge button.

He recalled Pit saying something along the lines that they were everywhere, but it never really sunk in that Palutena had done something so 'nice'. Especially for someone like Pit.

"You gotta keep him in line somehow." he said to himself, activating the Pitty bridge. Hopefully this wouldn't alert Palutena of his presence. He would much rather have a Centurion find him first than even see her.

As to why? It's a bit of a touchy subject. Maybe don't ask if you value your life.

* * *

**—wandering eye—**

Dark Pit had now walked on a 'Pitty' bridge a grand total of two times in his seven-and-thirteen-year-old life, but that didn't mean he was used to walking on them. Walking on light solidified for a bridge would make anyone nervous. The added knowledge that it was Palutena's own power that powered them only made walking on them more nerve wracking.

He didn't trust her. He couldn't trust her, to this day.

It wasnt just because she was a God, though that didn't do anything to help her case. No, there was something else. Something he couldn't explain. Call it instinct or a gut feeling, but every time Pit talked about how 'good' or 'amazing' Palutena was, Dark Pit wanted to shut him up. More often than not he did, to very disastrous results.

Of course. this probably could all be solved if he simply sat down and talked to her. _'Or you could make it ten times worse.' _he thought, it was a familiar thought. It was better to try to avoid her entirely, and if he couldn't do that he always made sure Pit was there with him to balance things out. An eternity of this song and dance didn't sound too bad. He was strong enough to keep it up! No question about it!

Just how long would Palutena be around anyways...?

"Oh." he'd reached the end of the bridge. After what felt like just a few seconds Pittoo was back on solid ground. Before continuing, he took one last look behind him. _'Don't tell me I daydreamed over the entire thing?! How embarrassing..._' he lightly blushed and turned to walk towards the central hub of Palutena's temple.

Forgetting to crucial step of turning the bridge off.

* * *

**-sweep floors sweep floors-**

Located at the back of Skyworld, Palutena's main temple was the largest building by far. Since it was where the majority of Skyworld's residents resided it had good reason to be that large.

To have it compared to a small town would be no exaggeration. It held everything and anything a celestial resident could want all within easy reach, no flying to other islands needed! There was a kitchen, a game room, several Hot Springs, and even a playground! Not to mention the thousands upon thousands of extra rooms, all newly vacant and ready for new tenants.

To top it all off was Palutena's own Throne Room, the first thing a visitor would see upon entering the main temple. Somewhere Dark Pit could have lived his entire life not hanging around in.

It was just really bright, and for good reason. Again.

The room was as white as marble, probably because it was marble. It was so white that light reflected off it. Dark pit had no idea where the light was even coming from, but Palutena was the Goddess of Light. This was probably another one of her stupid tricks. Around the room were several gold doors that lead to other areas of the temple. Dark Pit was about to enter the first door to his right when he spotted a door opening to his left.

He hoped it wasn't who he thought it was.

And it wasn't! Instead from the behind the door emerged Pit, singing to himself as loudly as he possibly could.

Which was arguably worse than anything that he'd expected.

Thinking fast Dark Pit quickly hid behind a column near him. Thankfully whatever inherent connection he and Pit had wasn't strong enough to let Pit know his twin was nearby, let alone in the same room. Their connection was iffy that way and almost seemed to operate on its own rules. Though it wasn't like either Pit was smart enough to think about it for more than a few minutes anyway.

Pittoo peeked his head out from behind the column. Pit was obviously still in the room as evidenced by the lack of a sound of a closing door.

He saw his brother standing in the middle of Palutena's throne room, a bucket in his left hand and a mop in his right.

And Dark Pit had no idea what they were for.

Pit gently put the bucket on the floor and dunked the mop in it. Oh, and for the record in case you forgot he was in fact still singing let's get that straight. Spinning in circles with a mop in hand Pit began mopping the throne room by himself.

"Cleaning is so fun~ Cleaning is so fun~ I can't wait for Lady Palutena to see what I have done~ "

Dark Pit rolled his eyes, this seriously couldn't be one of his jobs could it? He could understand fighting and taking out underworld enemies, but cleaning Palutena's throne room?! That was just demeaning!

"I'll mop and clean and be done by-oh?"

Dark Pit winced and quickly hid behind the column, hoping that Pit hadn't seen him. But their connection had other plans.

"Hey! Pittooooo!" Pit yelled from the middle of the throne room. When Pittooooo didn't answer he yelled again.

"Pittooooo I know you're there! You can't hide from me!" Pit knew he could easily walk up and say hello to his brother himself, but unfortunately in his hubris and dance number he managed to mop and trap himself in the middle of the room.

Not that Pittoo needed to know why he couldn't move from his spot, it was his secret for now.

Pittoo groaned and reluctantly stepped away from his hiding place. "Hey Pitstain." he finally greeted back. He was happy to finally see a familiar face at least, but why did it have to be like this? Looking over at Pit he could finally get a clear look at the Angel. In his hands Pit still held the mop Pittoo had seen him enter with and hanging from his belt were several rags. Along with all that, Pit was also wearing a bright blue bandana.

"What's with the getup?" Pittoo asked, walking closer to pit, "Did Palutena give you a new uniform or something?"

Visibly nervous as to how close Pittoo was getting to his newly mopped areas, Pit quickly answered, "N-No! nothing like that! U-Um would you mind staying back there Pittoo?""

To Pit's surprise, Pittoo stopped dead in his tracks.

"And why would I do that?" he asked, despite already doing exactly what Pit had asked him to do.

Pit forced a smile and braced for the worst, "Because you're a nice person who would never do anything to inconvenience your favorite brother on Skyworld Cleaning Day?"

It wasn't even five seconds after Pit's desperate plea that Dark Pit ran up to and muddied up all of his "hard" work.

* * *

**-skyworld cleanup day-**

Pittoo silently sat on the steps leading up to Palutena's throne, entertaining himself by steaming in his own anger.

His visit to Palutena's temple was supposed to give him something to do and cheer him up, not bore him even more out of his mind! So, yeah it was safe to say he was a little miffed about finding the one person he could hang out with too busy...cleaning?

After Dark Pit ruined Pit's expert mopping job, he was urged by Pit to wait until he had finished his chore before they could talk.

That's what Dark Pit was stuck doing now, waiting.

But that wasn't the only thing that Dark Pit had on his very angry mind. Rattling around in his head was something Pit had said to him before he splashed water all over Palutena's throne room, something about Skyworld cleaning day? What kind of joke was that? Why would anywhere need a designated cleaning day?! Didn't Palutena have enough Centurions to keep Skyworld clean? Even with his limited knowledge of Viridi's temple he knew that she assigned certain troops all the tasks it took to keep her temple clean.

Maybe Palutena didn't trust her centurions enough.

"Done!" Pittoo jumped a little in surprise, he'd been tuning out Pit's singing for so long hearing him yell anything other than a cheesy song lyric was a shock. "It's about time!" Pittoo hopped to his feet but didn't get a single step in before Pit interrupted him, again.

"Ah! Wait, don't walk I just mopped remember?!"

Pittoo stopped once again, one foot in the air and a scowl plastered all over his face. "Are you serious?! How long until we can talk then?!" he flapped his arms up and down trying to keep himself balanced on one foot. He could put it down anytime he wanted to of course, but anything that let Pit know how much this was inconveniencing him was a worthy sacrifice. Even if he did look a little bit silly.

Pit let out a quiet giggle.

"Something funny Puppit?!"

"N-No! Nothing! But you know, we can still talk from here! See? We're doing it right now!"

"Hmph! Fine!" Pittoo put his foot down, only because he felt Pit had learned his lesson. Not because his leg was tired or anything.

"First off, what is Skyworld Cleaning Day? And please don't let it be dumb as it sounds."

"I guess that depends on your idea of dumb?" Pit laughed. Once again Pittoo didn't think it was that funny.

Pit took in a deep breath in preparation for the lengthy explanation that he was about to drop on his brother. Dark Pit noticed this not-so subtle action and braced for the worst. The worst being an explanation that Pit would keep interrupting with other explanations of smaller things that had nothing to do with the original explanation. He tended to do that once in a while.

"Okay so, once a year me and the Centurions all get together and clean up all of Skyworld for 'Skyworld Cleaning Day'!"

There was a large gap of silence, the only sound in the room for the longest was the faint flapping of wings from nearby Centurions.

"That's it?" Dark Pit couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it.

Pit winked and flashed a peace sign, "That's it!"

"That's dumb!"

* * *

**-who died now?-**

Pittoo drew his hand back ready to give Pit a harmless bonk on the noggin for wasting his not so valuable time. Pit noticed this and prepared for the collision of his head and Pittoo's palm, but before he did-

**SMASH!**

The sound of something fairly large falling echoed through the Temple. It was loud enough to catch Pittoo's attention AND Pit's.

But at this point even the sound of a needle dropping would be enough to drive Pittoo away from listening to Pit try to over-explain the importance of Skyworld Cleaning Day.

"What was that?!" he asked, but there was no one around to answer.

"What the-?! Pit?!" quickly turning around he noticed that while he turned his head and attention to where thought he had heard the crash, Pit had taken off running in that complete opposite direction.

_'Pitstains lived here his whole life so he must know where he's running off to.'_ at least Dark Pit hoped that was the case because he sure didn't.

"Uuughh! Why did I even COME here!" Dark Pit took off running after Pit, mentally going over the pros and cons of having made the decision to come to Skyworld.

On the cons side of things there was having to find out that Skyworld has a designated day to clean** ALL** of Skyworld at once. Presumably because they didn't clean the other 364 days of the year and that just didn't sit well with him.

Another con would be that it was starting to look like he wouldn't get his wish of doing **ANYTHING **with Pit today. As the poor chump was probably going to spend all day cleaning anyway!

**AND** even worse was what he was doing now! Running down a hallway trying to keep up with his twin, who was surprisingly very light on his feet.

Maybe it was Lightweight, it had to be.

While he stopped to catch his breath Pittoo thought over the pros.

...

At least he wasn't dead.

* * *

**-shut up mom-**

Even just trailing behind of his brother, Dark Pit was able to see him dash into an open room. That was most likely where the sound of the large **SMASH** came from.

Figuring there was no real reason to rush anymore, Pittoo slowed down and calmly walked the rest of the way. Though both Angels hadn't been competing in any way whatsoever, Dark Pit still felt a little bitter about being left behind.

Whatever happened in that room better be important.

Pittoo peeked his head into the room. He knew Pit hadn't noticed that he'd followed him and wanted to keep it that way. The first thing Pittoo noticed was the room itself, obviously. The room was very small and the only things inside were a small circular table with two chairs on the side, topped off with a large window in the back.

The second thing he noticed were the broken glass shards on the floor.

"Lady Palutena! What happened?!"

'_What?!'_ was she in the room too? How could he have not noticed?! Careful to not make any noise Dark Pit slightly creaked the door open just enough to see more of the room. True to Pit's words lying on the floor along with a bunch of glass shards; was a disoriented Palutena.

"Oh! I'm sorry Lady Palutena. I shouldn't have yelled..." Pit whispered, quickly covering his mouth. Dark Pit looked away to make sure there wasn't anyone coming down the hallway. It was as empty and clean as it had been just a few seconds ago. Dark Pit hated to admit it, but Pit was really good at mopping.

The sound of Palutena's nervous laughter brought his attention back to the Goddess and Angel. Palutena, still sitting on the floor, wore an expression of something that could only be described as _'nervous discomfort'._ "Pit, it's okay. You can yell as loud as you want here!" she yelled. Instead of calming him down however, Palutena's playful reminder and laughter only worried Pit more.

"Lady Palutena are you okay?" Pit's hands shook in place, "You're the one who always said that we should keep our voices down in the temple."

"Oh? I guess I did...!"

"You didn't hit your head or anything did you-?!" Pit quickly steeped back to give Palutena enough space to stand up. He wanted to help her get up of course, but he knew he probably shouldn't. Palutena stifled a laugh, Pit was always such a worrywart. Sadly though, considering everything that had happened to the both of them so far, it wasn't entirely unjustified.

"No Pit, I'm perfectly fine!" she stood, dusting herself off. "See?" she said spinning in place to let him see that she was just fine, her jewels and trinkets (and every artist and cosplayers worst nightmares) clinging and clanging with each other. Knowing him, her word and appearance would be enough to convince him.

And it was.

"You look great as always Lady Palutena!" he smiled and gave her a big thumbs up. Palutena giggled at his compliment, Pit was always good at dishing those out even at her most ungoddess-y moments.

"Thank you Pit, but there's no reason for that kind of praise. Especially with the mess I made."

Both-uh... The trio looked down at the glass shards that were scattered all throughout the floor of the room. "On carpet no less!" Palutena declared in an extremely dramatic fashion, she was deathly embarrassed about her blunder.

It was a simple thing she had assigned herself. Dusting. _'How could I have messed up dusting?!'_ she thought.

The answer to that question was; she could drop the centerpiece of the table and break it into a million pieces.

The Goddess was visibly upset, but only one of the Angels present cared enough to do something about it. Pit stepped forward, somehow, someway, and without Palutena or Pittoo noticing he had acquired a broom and dustpan.

"Don't worry about it Lady Palutena! We can clean that up before you can say-"

"We?"

Dark Pit instantly froze, too nervous to do anything.

"That wasn't exactly what I was gonna say, but sure!" Pit spun the broom in his hand, "Me and Pittoo will have this place cleaned up in a jiffy!" Dark Pit thought about running away and hiding, but where could he hide now that Palutena knew he was here? This was her house after all, surely now that she knew he was here it wouldn't be hard at all to find him even in the best hiding space he found.

With no options left Dark Pit steeped up from behind the door he'd been hiding behind. Coming face to face with the Goddess of Light herself.

"Pittoo! It's so good to see you!" she smiled at him. It was the warmest smile he had seen from her in a while. Meanwhile, Pit hit his own head with his broom.

Dark Pit scowled and looked away.

* * *

**-turn that frown upside down!-**

Dark pit resisted the urge to turn around and run away. Then again there was no where he could run.

"Hey."

"Come on Pittoo!" Pit ran up to his twin's side and put his arm around his shoulders, "You can do better than that! Oh, just follow my lead!" Before Dark Pit could ask _"What lead?"_ Pit took the stage between him and Palutena. He gave a hearty salute and yelled at the top of his angelic lungs, "NICE TO SEE YOU LADY PALUTENA!"

Palutena looked a little taken back by the loud greeting but quickly laughed it off. "Pit there's no need to be so formal with me here!" she lightly patted his head, ruffling his already messy hair.

"But Lady Palutena-"

Whatever Pit was going to say would forever remain a mystery (probably) since at that moment in time Dark Pit kindly decided to remind everyone that he still existed. "Hey Pitstain, if this is what the rest of the day is gonna be like warn me so I can have Viridi pick me up." he crossed his arms and turned to face away from the Goddess and his twin.

Before Pit could speak another word...again, Palutena lightly put her hand on his shoulder. On her face was a familiar expression. A look that said _'Leave this to me'_. That specific look was usually reserved for whenever they spoke with other Gods, but Pit guessed this was a special exception.

Pittoo could be as stubborn as a God sometimes.

"Pittoo?" the sound of Palutena calling him by that stupid nickname she came up with sounded eerily close.

He slowly turned to see why, though he already had a bad feeling about it. True to his suspicions, once he turned around Palutena was uncomfortably close. Well, uncomfortable for him. She was in reality, only about three feet away, she was also on her knees for some reason.

Pittoo looked at her, confused. She didn't look tired? So, why was she doing that? All it did was make her shorter, and make him have to look at her in the eyes.

And as much as he tried to avoid doing that it seemed that Palutena was trying her best to do that to him.

"Pittoo? You heard my question, right?"

"Heh?" he in fact had not.

From the behind Palutena a voice, rather loudly, spoke up. "Lady Palutena asked you why you're here!"

"Thank you. Pit." she looked back at him and gave him a slightly tired smile. In return he smiled back, a smile full of energy and pep, as usual.

Both Palutena and Pit were now staring right at him. They asked a question and they expected an answer, as all good questions got. "I don't want to be the one to remind you Pittoo." he looked at her, his expression that of an Angel who was just caught off guard.

"...Technically we are still in a conflict with the Forces of Nature. Who's to say that you're not here to sabotage us from the inside? Maybe you're even...a threat?"

Pittoo was really caught off guard now. He rarely had any direct contact with the Goddess of Light herself, but to see and hear her sound so serious? He had more than a sneaking suspicion that she truly meant what she was saying.

"Lady Palutena? You can't be serious! Right?" Pit's voice sounded genuinely worried. _'Is he actually about to question the orders of Palutena for once?!'_ Pittoo thought.

In the midst of the new tension surrounding the three, there was a snort and then the sound of giggling.

"Lady Palutena?" Pit's worries had switched from her orders to her as she now giggled uncontrollably. Once again again Pittoo didn't find any of this funny.

"You...You should have seen the look on your f-faces! The idea of Pittoo being a threat-!?" as her laughter continued Pittoo's pout grew poutier. Pit also gave a small laugh, "Y-Yeah I guess you thinking that really wouldn't make sense huh?"

"I'm glad you agree Pit!"

* * *

**-pink and yellow polka-dotted curtains-**

After Palutena calmed down from her laughing fit she again (this time with 100 percent sincerity) asked Pittoo what brought him here.

"I got bored." he tried to lean on one of the doors, but unfortunately forgot it was a door and that it moved with well, movement.

"Pittoo? Are you okay?!" Pit ran to the aid of his twin and from Dark Pit's new position of lying on the floor he steadily refused Pit's help. "I'm fine!" he yelled, quickly standing and dusting himself off. Flapping his wings to make sure they were fine too.

"That's good. I was kinda afraid you'd get hurt by the glass." never mind that the glass of the vase was nowhere near where Dark Pit had fallen. Pit was just the kind of guy who always overthought certain things.

"Yeah, and who's fault would that be?" Dark pit asked, glaring right at Palutena.

Palutena simply rolled her eyes and sighed, "Let me guess? Since I dropped the vase, if either of you got hurt it would be my fault. It that what you're getting at?"

Pittoo gave a scoff and turned away as dramatically as he could, "You said it not me."

"Pittoo..."

Oh no. It was starting again.

Pit knew the telltale signs of a fight when he saw one, and throughout the years he had seen a lot. Though none of those fights had been between Pittoo and Palutena. That's because before it even got to the fight stage Pittoo usually would get so fed up with her that he left instead.

"Hey! Don't you think its been long enough?!" they both stopped arguing in favor of just being confused at Pit, just as he had hoped.

"What are do mean Pit?" Palutena asked.

"Uh-we've been standing here long enough don't you think?!" Pit walked over to the scattered glass shards and attempted to sweep them up, and if you've ever tried to use a broom on carpet you would understand why I said 'attempted'.

"Maybe I should just pick them up instead?"

"Pit no."

"I'm just kidding Lady Palutena!" it was probably better she didn't know he was definitely not kidding about that idea. Pit nervously started sweeping the shards much faster than before.

"Do you want to help me?" Pit asked his brother. Dark Pit didn't register at first that the question was directed at him. He was trying very hard to pretend he was anywhere but here.

After not receiving any sort of answer back Pit gave a quiet and sort of sad "Okay." and went back to his assigned task.

_'You two...'_ it was hard not to feel a sort of familiar sadness watching the two.

Even if Pittoo had started out as their enemy Palutena desperately wished that there was some way that the two brothers could bond and grow closer. Figure out their difference through non-violent means! That would be the dream.

Then maybe after Pit and Pittoo's bond maxed out then maybe her and Pittoo could also-

Suddenly, Palutena's eyes, along with her magical glowing halo, lit up. She just had a great idea!

"I've got a great idea!"

Both Angels looked at her, confused at where Palutena could possibly be going.

Palutena put her hands together and smiled, "Pittoo? Why don't you help me around today?"

"What?!" both Angels yelled out.

While Palutena expected for Pittoo to be the first to object to this idea it was, to her surprise, Pit who spoke up first.

"Lady Palutena are you sure?! I-I mean I could help you out instead! N-not that I'm jealous or anything I just um- think I would be better for...whatever it is you're going to do...?" it was clear to her that no matter how much Pit wanted to hide his more 'ugly' emotions he still had them. No one was that perfect. Least of all him.

She bent down and bopped him on the nose, "Pit don't be silly! Remember, you have all sorts of other assignments for today! Don't forget the fifth rule of the Angels Code of Conduct?" Pit sighed and effortlessly kicked at the ground, kicking a shard into his dustpan, "...An Angel never leaves a job undone?"

"That's right!" since as long as Palutena could remember she been teaching Pit the Angel's Code of Conduct. It was all in the hopes that he would grow up to be a polite and respectable Angel. And it worked!

For the most part.

The eating food off the floor rule was still up in the air if it was a real rule or something Pit made up along the way. ...What? You don't expect Palutena to remember all the rules, do you? That's what Pit is for! Silly.

"What would I even help you with?" there wasn't much Dark Pit was willing to help with. Even if he considered helping Palutena there was nothing he would help _her_ with, "What? You need my help breaking another priceless vase?"

Despite the joke at her expense, Palutena didn't flinch. She was delighted that Pittoo even acknowledged her request, even if he did it in his own special Pittoo way.

"How about helping me pick out the curtains for the recreation room?"

"No offense, but I'd rather have my wings deep frie-" he quickly glanced at Pit who curiously tilted his head wondering what Dark Pit's next words could possibly be.

"Err-I'd rather help Pit out!"

_'No I wouldn't! Why did I say that?!'_ Pittto tried to think of anything else he rather or needed to do instead of helping either of them out but it was no use. He was drawing a total blank!

Pit flapped his wings excitedly, "You mean that Pittoo?!" he was so excited he started to stomp his feet repeatedly in place. It got to the point where Palutena had to remind him to be careful since the floor wasn't anywhere near glass free yet. That suggestion was kindly taken into consideration and ignored instead because he was just too darn happy.

"No! I don't!" and without another word Dark Pit ran out of the room and turned to run down the hallway. Where was he going? Anywhere but there!

* * *

**-artistic liberties-**

With newfound spite and anger, Pittoo walked around Palutena's temple in an attempt to take his mind off things.

Those things, being Palutena herself. Which wasn't easy considering he was in her house.

On his walk he noticed several Centurions would fly up to happily greet him, but they would quickly change their minds after flying close enough to notice he was in no mood for chatter.

Or maybe he was?

Ugh, feelings were confusing.

It didn't help that everywhere he looked there was a Centurion.

Look to the left? A Centurion arranging a potted plant. Look to the right? A Strongarm carrying a bunch of dusty books. Look up? A group of Centurion Knights flying above him, all carrying brooms.

Would any of them be as fun to hang around with as Pit was? Probably not.

After walking for what felt like forever, Pittoo decided to rest under the shade of a Juggernaut. He had no idea what it was doing here but it was doing a great job so far of cooling him off, so why bother asking.

It wasn't long though before Pittoo found himself longing for something to do. It was the same problem he had back at Viridi's temple! There was nothing to do! He'd visited Skyworld a hundred times and there was always something to do.

But he always did those things with Pit.

This was HIS home after all. Pit knew the in's and out's and everything fun there was to do in Skyworld. For Dark Pit Skyworld was nothing more than a falling apart temple in the sky his brother still decided to live in for some reason.

Nah, who was he kidding? There was a reason, the reason why Pit was too busy cleaning to hang out with him.

It just wasn't a very good reason.

To say that Pit was dedicated to Palutena would be the understatement of the century. That boy was always pretty much glued to her side. He took Palutena's word as truth. That is unless it sounded like something she would never do. Apparently.

How they both ended up that way was a mystery to him. Whatever the reason, it was clear that Palutena's influence on Pit went deeper than his twin was willing to admit

His 'deep' thinking came to a sudden halt when the shade he was sitting under suddenly disappeared.

He looked up to see that the Juggernaut had decided to move. Or someone else moved it, whatever. The reason why it was gone didn't matter to him he was just sad to see his cool shade go. Now there was nothing protecting him from the hot rays of the sun.

And when everything you wear is a shade of black or purple it's never a good idea to stay in the sun for long.

Just as Dark Pit was about to stand and move somewhere else the sun couldn't bother him, a large shadow appeared from literally nowhere. The shadow was so large it not only covered him but the entirety of the outside of Palutena's main temple.

From the way it suddenly appeared Dark Pit guessed that it was something flying over him, but there was no way Palutena had something that big in her army. At least, not without Dark Pit finding out about it.

Maybe it was a new weapon?

After some hesitation he would rather not admit he felt, Dark Pit finally looked up.

To find that there was nothing there.

Not even the sun, even though it had been right above him just a few minutes ago.

Wait. Had he fallen asleep?! What year was it?!

Panicked, he jumped to his feet and looked around for any clear sign that he had jumped forward in time 100 years. To his relief it looked like the same old Skyworld; empty and broken with no one to talk to.

Just like Pit.

He hadn't meant to make that comparison in his mind but thinking about it more, it seemed to be a forgone conclusion.

Augh! But that didn't matter right now! _'Eyes on the prize!'_

His eyes darted from place to place trying to figure out the source of the giant shadow. Considering his (and Pit's) condition there wasn't a lot he could do to look around, but it didn't hurt to try.

Stretching as far as he could Dark Pit tried to look over Palutena's temple to see what the mysterious giant object could be. Could it be a giant monster? A solar eclipse? A giant super fighting robot?!

That last one was a bit of a stretch, but it was the one Pittoo secretly hoped would be the truth.

Then he could pilot a fighting robot...

Once he had walked back as far as he could, he finally saw that there was something huge above him! Something he hadn't even noticed before! Somehow.

Towering above Palutena's temple was a giant statue of the Goddess of Light herself. Proudly wielding her staff and adorned with two humongous wings that Dark Pit was positive weren't that big!

The disappointment of there not being a giant robot came second to Pittoo's initial thoughts upon first noticing the statue though.

"That's pretty high up..."

No, the first thing that came to Pittoo's mind was-

"...I bet I can climb it."

* * *

**-wee snaw—**

True to the Centurion's word, Phos and Lux were both outside of their stable. Grazing around the sky in typical flying electric unicorn fashion.

"Hey!" Pittoo jumped in the air and waved his arms, trying very hard to get at least one of the unicorns' attention. "HEY! Down here!" but no matter how hard he yelled or how much he flapped he couldn't seem to get their attention.

"What did I expect from a bunch of dumb Unicorns anyway!" he kicked at the ground and went along his merry way towards the statue.

"Probably as dumb as the guy who takes care of them." he whispered under his breath, a little worried that Phos and Lux would hear his insult.

* * *

**-if you can believe it this was supposed to be in chapter 2-**

Dark Pit now stood at the base of Palutena's statue. It sure was...a lot bigger than he thought it was when he had been farther away.

It also looked less like Palutena now and more like a gold shiny mess of shapes.

The idea of climbing it now was starting to seem more and more like an impossibility. There was no way he could get Viridi to fly him up there either. One favor a day was already starting to stretch it he didn't want to owe her anything else.

And asking Palutena was 100 percent out of the question! He wouldn't even ask if his life depended on it! (and that time after the war's end was a fluke and nothing more!)

He took a determined stance. Looks like the only option now was to climb it!

After all, if even Link could do it how hard could it be?

* * *

**-jealously-**

Dark Pit was less than halfway up the statue, when he begin to think about how much it would hurt to jump from his current position of hanging from one of Palutena's many bangles.

Though her jewelry always rubbed him the wrong way for once he was glad she was so gaudy.

After a few minutes of catching his breath-he continued his arduous climb, making a mental note of kicking Link's butt the next time they meet.

* * *

**-like talking to a wall—**

It was after about an hour or so when Dark Pit finally made it to the top of the statue.

Or at least as high as he was willing to go, deciding to rest on the statue's right shoulder. Which to be fair, was still pretty high up.

From this height Dark Pit was able to see all of Skyworld.

Everything seemed so small in comparison. And not like physically, more like literally small. The flying Centurions looked like bees from where he sat. So much so that purely on instinct he swatted at one that was likely a good fifty feet away from him. The floating islands that littered all of Skyworld also shrunk in size. Instead of being miles apart they seemed to be a hop, skip, and a jump away. They didn't look like a hindrance but more like fun stepping stones.

Weirdly enough, it was also oddly peaceful.

Besides the sound and feeling of the spring breeze blowing past him, there was nothing up here but him. It was like all his problems and everyone he knew was an entire world away now. While he stared ahead to the horizon another strong breeze blew past. Not strong enough to knock him off but definitely enough to move him around a bit. Without meaning to, he spread his wings. It was kind of funny, this was the closest he was going to get to flying without having someone control him.

Dark Pit wasn't a fan of peace and quiet, far from it. But maybe all it took for him to relax was a cool breeze and the very very close sounds of flapping wings.

"Hey wait a minu-"

**"Hi Pittoo!"**

"AUGH!" Pittoo jumped up in shock and after a good fifteen seconds of regaining his balance and trying not to hurdle off the statue to his death he asked Pit what in Skyworld he was doing up here.

"Cleaning!" he flashed a dirty rag and a bucket of water in front of Pittoo.

"Cleaning?!" Pittoo looked around only to be meet with the staggering realization that there was nothing around to clean but the statue itself. Surely Pit wouldn't be dumb enough to try to clean a giant gold statue with nothing but a small towel and a half-empty bucket of water?

"I like to think of it as half-full actually!"

"Wha-? Oh! would you get out of my head!?" Pittoo tried to lightly smack Pit away before realizing something very important.

Pit wasn't standing anywhere on the statue.

"Wait-? Are you flying?! How-!?"

Pit tried his best not to laugh, since that would be rude. And as we all know Angels are never rude.

Well, if they can help it.

"Sorta! Strongarm here is holding me up! Say hi Strongarm!" on cue the Strongarm flew up to Pittoo's line of sight, letting him see the Strongarm that was holding the light Angel in the palm of his hand. It didn't look like it took a lot of effort, was Pit that light? Was he that light? All good questions for another time.

"Hello there Dark Captain! It's a nice day today isn't it?" the Strongarm waved at him with his free hand, Pittoo awkwardly waved back at the large Centurion.

"You can call it a day alright." he answered.

The Strongarm extended his arm to let Pit walk closer to the statue. He daintily jumped from the safety of the Strongarm's hand to the left shoulder of Lady Palutena's statue. "Thank you for the help Strongarm! I can take it from here!" they both saluted each other and the Strongarm took off flying towards the temple. Presumably to partake in even more cleaning.

Without another word Pit took the rag in his hands and started to wipe the statue down starting at the neck, almost as if he forgot Pittoo was there.

Dark Pit thought about interrupting him to ask once again if he intended to wipe down the whole statue by himself, because even the thought of that herculean task made him feel tired.

Before he could get a word however, Pit interrupted himself. "I know what I'm doing here, but Pittoo, what are you doing here?" Pit was very confused at just how his brother got all the way up here by himself, and for what reason?

"If you must know I climbed up here to-"

"-hang around?!"

Dark Pit mentally kicked himself for choosing the right side of the shoulder to sit on. There was no way he could push Pit off from where he sat.

* * *

**-pit sneezes for 30 minutes straight-**

It had been a good half-hour since Pit started cleaning Palutena's statue. In that time he managed to clean the statue's left side of the neck and managed to climb up to the top of the head and start wiping it down too.

Dark Pit meanwhile, had not moved from his original position of sitting and pouting on the statues right shoulder. "Don't you think cleaning this whole statue by YOURSELF is crazy?!" he yelled towards the top of the statue where he knew Pit was busy cleaning away.

Though from where he was Dark Pit couldn't see exactly where Pit was, but he knew he was there. OH BOY did he know! The darn squeaking of the rag Pit was cleaning with hadn't stopped since he got here!

"Did you hear anything that I just said?! Are you almost done up there?!"

"I'm almost done!" it was the fourth time Dark Pit had asked and the seventh time Pit promised he was almost done.

It was safe to say he was nowhere near done.

_'Okay, so he did hear me. He just didn't hear the first question.'_ Dark pit thought. "PIT!" he yelled again. Dark Pit hoped Pit would answer him again.

"Yeah? What is it?" Ha! Hook line and sinker!

"Like I said! Don't you think cleaning this thing by yourself is impossible?!" Dark Pit hoped he would get an actual answer this time and not the squeaky squeaks of a cleaning rag.

"Well...if I don't do it who else is gonna?"

"No one! No one has to clean this thing!" Pit couldn't see it from where he was, but Pittoo was at that moment in time flaying his arms in various different directions. As if to try to put into motion how ridiculous the notion of cleaning a giant statue by hand was.

"That's not true Pittoo!" even from down where Dark Pit was sitting, he could hear Pit's pout, "If you don't clean something it gets dirty! everyone knows that!" Pit sounded particularly proud of his last statement, and he was! It wasn't often he got to sound smarter than other people, people usually clowned on him not the other way around.

Oh, but that's a story for another day.

"Okay, yeah BUT that's about weapons or desks not GIANT GOLDEN STATUES!" Dark Pit screamed his rebuttal so loud that several (about maybe five) Centurions flying by stopped their chores to check what could had made that terrible screeching noise.

Lucky for them instead of the giant monster they feared would be waiting for them when they got there, it was a very grumpy Angel instead.

"Dark Captain!" it wasn't often Dark Pit came to visit so it was always a nice surprise for the Centurions whenever he did. Remembering how much trouble both Pits caused whenever he did usually came later.

"Dark Captain! What brings you here?" one of the Centurion Knights asked.

Now surrounded by several Centurions, Dark Pit sighed. He couldn't not answer them at this point, right? "You know just hanging around-" he laughed, "-And trying to talk some sense into your DENSE CAPTAIN!" he kicked the statue, hard.

"Don't yell at the captain like that!" even though the Centurions were fond of Dark Pit insulting their Captain was drawing the line.

"But kicking the statue of your Goddess is fine?"

A collective "The what?" sounded off

Pit, still cleaning, remained blissfully unaware of the entire exchange.

* * *

**-captain of lady palutenas guard-**

While Pit didn't finish cleaning the entire statue himself, not for a lack of trying mind you. It was because it was getting late and he still had a lot of places to get to! Honestly!

Ahem, but he did get to give the orders to a group of Centurions to finish what he had started.

"We're on it Captain!"

It was on these rare occasions that Dark Pit was reminded that Pit, his brother, was technically in charge on an entire army.

Wild that a teenager who couldn't fly himself out of a paper bag was in charge of about a thousand flying troops. Of course, Pit could instead fight his way out of the paper bag (and the Underworld!) easily, that probably had something to do with Palutena's decision to name him Captain of her Guard.

A look of realization dawned upon him. He snapped his fingers remembering something crucial.

Dark Pit forgot to pack a lunch.

* * *

**-to break a rule or not-**

After a few wrong turns, mostly on Dark Pit's part, both Angels had made their way back to the Palutena's throne room.

Pit sat on the ground looking over a rather large piece of paper. Not really feeling up to the task of asking what that was all about, Pittoo decided to stand next to where Pit sat, while taking quick non-subtle glances at the paper.

From what he could see it was some sort of list.

Since Pit had the uncanny ability of not being able to read it was pretty obvious he was unable to write as well. Even if by some miracle he could write there was no way to read what he wrote down, it was a lose-lose situation. So, instead of writing things down on a list it, Pit opted for the much easier option of drawing it out.

The first item on the list was a doodle of Pit moping a floor. The second was more detailed drawing of Pit cleaning Palutena's dumb statue. '_It' probably looks better cause Palutena is technically in it_', Pittoo sighed. The third was hard to see from where Dark Pit stood. Luckily for him, Pit was able to translate for him

"Okay! The next stop is-

He stopped. Was it to think? Probably not.

"Lady Palutena's room? T-That can't be right? It must be a mistake!"

Pittoo quickly snatched the list from Pit's hands, much to his brother's surprise. "H-Hey?!" he stood to confront Pittoo on the very rude move he just pulled. Literally. "Pittoo give that back! I...kinda need it." Pit held out his hand expecting to receive his very important item right back. Pittoo gave him a quick look, almost like he was thinking it over.

Was he? Probably not.

"Nah."

"Pittoo!"

Pittoo examined the drawing, holding up the paper with one hand and using the other to hold back a very persistent Angel. From what he could determine from Pit's scribbles was that his next chore was to clean a room, evinced by the small Pit drawn in an blank space occupied with a bed and dresser.

Aside from thinking that Pit needed to work on his perspective, nothing else really stuck out to Pittoo and there was certainly nothing that said anything about it being Palutena's room.

"I know its Lady Palutena's room because no one else sleeps on a bed that big except her!"

"What did I tell you about being in my head?!" he pushed Pit away, a little harder than he intended to. Without Pit noticing, Pittoo looked over his brother to see if he was alright.

"I wasnt in your head! I could just sorta feel your question coming!"

Pittoo knew he wasn't lying but it was still annoying to think Pit could do that. Never mind the fact that he could also do that to Pit. So he did.

"There a problem with Palutena's room?"

"You bet there is! No one is supposed to go into Lady Palutena's room! It's a rule!"

That's when a great idea popped into Dark Pit's head. An idea so great even he was impressed by how great it was.

HE should sneak into Palutena's room.

"Pittoo?" Pit was confused why his twin suddenly decided to stop messing with him. Pit stared dumbfounded, watching Dark Pit take off running and pushing his way past the large doors on the right.

Pit was silent, trying to process what just happened until that darn finicky super-secret twin connection decided to work again.

"OOOH NO! Pittoo!" realization finally struck as he sprinted in an effort to catch up to his twin.

He wouldn't have to run much. Dark Pit had stopped to catch his breath just a few seconds after pulling the doors open. They were solid gold after all, they're very heavy!

As soon as Pit opened the doors for himself Dark Pit attempted to take off running again, unfortunately he was still very tired.

"Don't even think about doing what I know you're thinking of doing!" Pit walked besides a struggling out of breath Pittoo.

"T-There's no way you...you know what I'm doing!"

Dark Pit stopped once again to catch his breath, making a mental note to give Pit an earful for daring to have stamina. Pit tapped at his own head, "Twin connection remember? So don't even think about it!"

"I-I'm not thinking about it."

Pit stared at him.

"...Cause I'm going to go do it!" his breath successfully caught, Dark Pit took off running again. Acting fast, Pit grabbed onto Dark Pit's arm. That didn't do much to stop him however. it only took Pit along for the ride.

"Whyyy do you even want to go in there?!"

Dark pit stopped and turned to his brother. Pit was holding onto his arm as if his life depended on it. Either Palutena would really kill both of them for entering her room or Pit thought she would. He couldn't decide which was worse.

Actually no, the one where they both died was probably worse.

He cleared his throat and pulled his arm away from Pit's grasp. Despite the show of force Pit looked up towards his twin with a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes.

Seconds of tense silence went by before Dark Pit began walking forward again And before Pit could say anything else Dark Pit performed an uncharacteristic spin, stopping only to boop Pit on his nose. Which left Pit rightfully confused.

"Why do I want to go in there? The answers easy." Pit held his breath, "Because I can Pitstain." he spun back around and continued his way towards Palutena's room, "And I will!"

Pit let him go.

He knew his twin well enough that there was nothing that would convince Pittoo to listen to him.

He turned his back on him and walked towards his next NEXT destination.

Dark Pit was on his own.

* * *

**-clean enough to shine-**

Pit pushed the doors to the Hot Springs open. A bit more aggressively than he would like to admit but no one was around to see so it never happened!

These particular Hot Springs weren't often used and as result weren't really top priority on the cleaning list, but it was the first place Pit thought of so it would have to do.

He dipped the mop into the bucket and went to work.

After Pit had left Pittoo behind he couldn't help but worry that he would somehow find a way into Lady Palutena's room. He knew his twin was persistent, once he had a goal in mind there was very little someone could do to change his mind, let alone stop him.

Pit would have absolutely loved it if Pittoo had agreed to help him. Heck, even just being in the same room would have been great. They were friends, right? Why wouldn't Pittoo want to hang out with him, did he hate cleaning that much or something? They were making great progress so far so why did it seem like they were back to square one today?

The mop shook in his hands. His grip on it was strong enough to snap it in half, if he really felt like it.

Something Pit rarely liked to admit was how short his temper really was. He did well to bottle it up, only letting it loose when fighting or taunting an opponent. This way he made sure his friends rarely got to see that side of him, past the point of looking annoyed at least.

But seeing Pittoo deliberately threaten to break one of Lady Palutena's rules just to spite her? That was too much, even for Pittoo.

Pit left as quickly as he could to stop himself from lashing out, just like he had done to Pittoo when they meet just after he had been created.

He blinked, realizing what he was doing and finally loosened his grip on the mop. He quickly inspected his hands to make sure he hadn't accidentally given himself a splinter or two.

He just had to keep cleaning. Everything would work out. It always does.

It didn't take long for Pit to break out into song. Again.

* * *

**-asking for directions-**

If there was anything Dark Pit hated doing more than being lost it was asking for help. He would gladly give out help like it was going out of fashion, but asking for it? Bleh! He'd rather go back to hanging out with Pit.

Unfortunately, it looked like the only way to pull off his master plan was to ask someone who wasn't Pit or Palutena for directions. And with those two out of the equation that limited his options to around a thousand, nine hundred and eighty-six centurions.

Give or take.

With so many Centurions around it wasn't hard for Dark Pit to flag one down. "Is there something wrong Dark Captain? Did the Captain send you?!" the Centurion that he managed to get was a Centurion Knight. A little smarter than the average Centurion and a genius by Strongarm standards. Luckily for Dark Pit, despite being the smartest of the bunch, they still weren't the sharpest tools in the shed.

"Nah. Pits fine, but-"

"That's a relief! I was worried the Captain got his hand stuck in another jar again!"

Dark Pit let out an involuntary chuckle, "He did that once?"

"Once?! We had to save him from that twenty-two times just last year!"

Dark Pit was dying to know more but he had to stay focused! He would have all the time in the world to ask the Centurions for more embarrassing stories about Pit later. Now it was time to strike!

"Yeah, anyway. do you know where Palutena's room is? I know no one is supposed to-"

"It's down the hall and three doors to the right. You can't miss it dark captain!" and with a hearty salute and a big "Goodbye!" The Centurion Knight flew off and went right back to sweeping the ceilings of the temple.

Leaving Dark Pit slowly waving all by himself. Very confused as to what just happened.

"Yeah. Bye?"

* * *

**-little button eyes-**

Before today Dark Pit had no idea, or even any curiosity as to what Palutena's room looked like.

But as he slowly pushed open the double doors that led into her room, thoughts as to what awaited him inside flooded his head. What kind of room would someone like Palutena live in? There's no way it would be as fun as Pit's room, as much as he hated to admit it, he really liked his hammock.

Would he stumble on a dark secret that no one was meant to know? Would there be nothing in there at all? Would it be so bright he couldn't see?

No, that'd be stupid.

Finally, the doors were open and what stood in front of Pittoo was his worst nightmare.

**IT WAS A** regular room by all accounts. It was pretty clean, unlike the rest of the temple. That was probably one of the reasons why Palutena told Pit to stay out. The room was brightly lit like he suspected, but not bright enough to impair his vision.

The surprisingly empty room was decorated with only a few dressers, a large closet, a vanity mirror and a large canopy bed in the middle.

And on the canopy bed was a pile, a literal pile of hand-sewn Palutena dolls.

Dark Pit was seconds away from slamming the doors shut, but his rebellious spirit got the better of him as he took the first steps inside and gently closed the doors behind him shut.

* * *

**-like a moth to a flame-**

The first thing Pittoo did once he was inside was throw the Palutena dolls to a dark corner of the room. Of course, since Palutena **is** the Goddess of Light there were no dark corners. Just slightly less lit corners, but don't tell him that.

After that heinous act he was quickly at a loss of what to do next?

Sure, he had gotten inside, that was step one done. Now what was step two? There wasn't anything in particular he was looking for. No evidence of misdeeds, nothing to steal and blackmail her for and certainly nothing that Pittoo would steal from Palutena to keep for himself.

Unless he could somehow steal her Power of Flight, he would take that in a heartbeat.

He took a seat on her bed. As he suspected, it wasn't anything to write home about. _'You think a Goddess could afford a non-spring mattress'_, he thought while lightly bouncing on the bed. Dark Pit took a closer look at the bed, he was surprised at how mistreated it looked. The bed frame had scratches from age on it and the canopy net had large holes all over. Even her blankets were riddled with holes and their colors were fading away.

"Geez, either Palutena doesn't sleep much or she needs a better interior designer. " Dark Pit said to himself.

Pushing himself off the bed he decided that that was enough rule breaking for today, even if no one had seen him he proved to Pit that nothing bad would happen if he decided to enter her room.

"Oh!" That's right! he needed proof that he had gone into her room. Otherwise Pit would just assume Dark Pit was lying and would never believe him.

He looked around for anything that wasn't nailed down and easy to carry. Her blanket? No, running around wearing a blanket would immediately make everyone suspicious of him. Maybe one of the dolls? He looked back at to where he had thrown them and shivered. He'd rather stay as far from those things as he possibly could.

His eyes stopped at Palutena's largest dresser. He wasn't interested at what could be inside but something else did catch his attention.

On top of the dresser was a small picture frame, a frame small enough to carry. Excited to have finally found something to take Pittoo ran to go and pick it up.

Initially, Pittoo wasn't going to bother himself looking at whatever dumb photo Palutena would keep in her room, but once the frame was in his hands his curiosity got the better of him. Almost immediately he could tell that the larger figure in the photo was Palutena.

But then who was the small frail kid she was holding in her arms?

* * *

**-2D00-002A-49A0-**

Dark Pit couldn't exactly pinpoint why, but he felt uneasy.

Somehow, he knew that the woman in the photo was Palutena at first glance but when he looked again, she looked completely different! Instead of her usual golden headdress and white gown Palutena wore a blue tiara and a blue dress, not to mention that her hairstyle was almost completely different too.

'_Maybe it's the green hair?'_ her tacky green hair was recognizable from miles away.

_'Well'_ Pittoo thought, _'That solves one mystery but what about...?'_ There was still the issue of the mysterious Angel. The child that Palutena held in her arms couldn't have been more than five years old. His hair was a light brown, he wore a simple tunic that was just slightly burned, and his wings were pathetically sma-

"Pit." the gears finally turned. The child was Pit.

Dark Pit's grip on the photo frame strengthened. That was one mystery solved but it only made the entire picture that much more worrying.

The photo showed a tired, and perfectly uninjured Goddess. In her arms she held an Angel who looked like he had just been through hell. His wings and hair were messy and coated in sand and his tunic looked even worse, everywhere Pittoo looked there was at least one burn or rip. Outwardly appearances aside, Pit himself looked remarkably uninjured, for an Angel whose outfit looked like that, save for a few scratches and bruises. No matter how fine he looked however, it couldn't hide the fact that he looked as if he'd passed out in Palutena's arms just before the photo was taken.

While Skyworld fell to ruin around them.

Arlon always said a picture is worth a thousand words and even though Pittoo would have been able to read less than half of them, he knew none of them were good.

* * *

**-****idol of the riverbed-**

Dark Pit put the pieces together quickly.

Using Palutena and Pit's appearances he figured out that the picture must have been taken during the aftermath of the War on Medusa.

It was most likely taken right after the final battle when the two of them were finally reunited after being separated for who knows how long. _'How long had Pit been alone for?'_ he thought. Despite sharing a handful of memories with Pit, for some reason Pittoo had no memories of that part of his life.

If he did, he might have been even angrier.

He slammed the frame back onto the dresser. It shook from the impact almost shattering the Photo Frame itself. "Why is this here?" was there a reason that Palutena had a photo like this on full display in her room. A photo that depicted a happy, rescued and healthy Goddess who had just been saved by a literal child. A child who looked like he belonged in an infirmary more than he did in her arms.

The image was almost like a trophy, she was proud of it.

"I bet you are."

Proud of having complete control over someone who would listen to everything you would say. Someone who would gladly lay down their life for you without even a second thought. Having someone who would gladly follow orders to a T, even if that meant eliminating a person who hadn't even been ALIVE FOR MORE THAN A DA-

Pittoo shook his head to clear his thoughts.

No. This wasn't about him, this was about Pit. He had to tell him.

Firsts thing first, he had to think of what exactly he wanted to tell him.

* * *

**-mirror mirror—**

Dark Pit violently snatched the photo frame off the dresser and turned to exit the room.

Not even one step later, he was stopped dead in his tracks. Across the room was Palutena's ugly old vanity; mirror and all. Reflected in the mirror was him.

Dark Pit.

It was sort of funny to look at, a reflection of a reflection. He was never supposed to be around, if you think about it.

Born because of a fluke and created only to fight his _'good'_ twin. Well, he was able to do that! He still could! Then why did everyone say that he didn't come out right! Was it the color? he couldn't help that black was just a cooler color!

Not only that, it was almost like he was the only one with any sense around here. Was that what was wrong? He was _'wrong'_ because he wasn't as blindly obedient as Pit?

Dark Pit turned his attention from his reflection to the frame he held. Despite everything that had happened he needed to be here. He needed to tell Pit he didn't need to obey anyone!

All he had to do was listen to himself.

With a new feeling of determination Dark Pit smirked and ran towards the door. His hand barely touched the door when

* * *

**-the dirt tracks-**

Palutena walked the sparkling clean path of shame back to her room.

After failing to help the Centurions in organizing the weapons, almost burning down the kitchen and blowing up Phos and Lux's stables she felt that she would be helping more by staying far **FAR** away from any cleaning for the rest of the day.

"I hope Pit's having better luck than I am." she hadn't seen him almost all day. The part of her that worried about pushing him to far stirred up again and she was tempted to seek him out and tell him to take a break.

That was until she noticed a suspicious set of fresh dirt tracks leading into her room. "Pit?" she thought she remembered giving Pit clear orders that morning to stay out of her room, no matter what. Not for the act of hiding secrets mind you, but a Goddess has to have their privacy.

It seemed uncharacteristic of him that he would disobey her like that even if it was to save her the effort of having to clean it herself. But after the incident with the vase maybe he had second thoughts about leaving her to manage it.

"He would never! Palutena don't be ridiculous!" she laughed at her own outlandish notions of her most trustworthy Angel disobeying her. "This is little Pit we're talking about not-" her eyes widened with the sudden realization that it might not be Pit in her room.

But the other one instead.

Not even giving another possibility a chance to pop up in her head, Palutena pushed open the double doors to her room and

* * *

**-one black feather-**

A funny fact about the doors to Palutena's room is that they are the only double doors in the temple that open inward.

What that means is, say if someone were standing in her room and in front of the doors while someone else pushed them open from the outside. What would happen? Well, the answer is that they would be hit square in the face by the opening doors.

And that's exactly what happened with Palutena and Dark Pit.

"Augh!" before Dark Pit could grab onto the doors handles, they swung open in front of him. The pair of doors hit him and knocked him back, placing him almost in the dead center of the room. This sudden impact also caused him to lose his grip on the photo frame he had been hoping to show Pit once he found him again.

Neither of which looked to be happening anytime soon.

"Pittoo?!" Palutena was both shocked by the presence of Pittoo in her room and equally awash with concern over how the poor dark Angel was fairing over being hit by a pair of solid gold doors. The hit was so strong that several of his loose black feathers now adorned the room. Forgetting the former problem for a moment Palutena ran up the injured angel on the ground. Extending her hand over him and using her Powers of Healing she healed most, if not all of injuries.

"There! Is that better?"

Dark Pit didn't answer, but Palutena felt that he appreciated her help. At least she hoped he did.

"Now then."

Dark Pit winced, he knew what was coming.

"What exactly are you doing in my room?" instead of answering her question Dark Pit crossed his arms and looked away. He gasped, there by Palutena's largely inconvenient vanity was the picture he'd planned to show to his twin. He hadn't even noticed he dropped it!

"Pittoo." his attention was brought back to Palutena. "I'm going to ask again. What are you doing in here?"

"Nothing." he answered. Palutena blinked in surprise. It wasn't the answer she was hoping for, but he did answer back. It was a start.

Before Palutena could bring up how unbelievable it was that Pittoo was doing 'nothing' in her room, Dark Pit jumped to his feet and darted out the door.

At least, that's what Palutena thought he was doing. She quickly turned around expecting to see Pittoo running out the doors but instead from the corner of her eye she spotted him near her mirror. He was clumsily picking something up but she couldn't tell what it was.

That's when he tried to run out the doors.

There was little time for Palutena to say anything that would stop him, but there was time to act. In a bright flash of light she summoned her staff and pointed it right at the fleeing Angel.

"Power of Flight!"

* * *

**-im not a fan of puppeteers. but i hope youre ready for dialogue-**

"See? See?! This is what I mean!"

Dark Pit desperately kicked his legs in the air. There was nothing he could do at this point but he wasn't about to go down without a fight.

Palutena sighed, she already knew Dark Pit was aggressive but she didn't think she would have to resort to keeping him against his will to have a simple conversation. Using her staff Palutena directed Dark Pit's flight pattern towards her.

Dark Pit slowly flew, well more like floated, to Palutena. His arms were crossed and his legs freely dangled in the air, tired from hopelessly trying to kick himself free.

"Pittoo."

Dark Pit gave her the cold shoulder.

"Pittoo!"

"What?!"

She groaned, Palutena really wished she had more patience for these sorts of things. Or more experience in scolding misbehaving Angels.

"I'm going to ask one last time. What were you doing in my room?"

Remaining silent Dark Pit was now three for three in not answering Palutena's very pressing questions. At least he thought he was. Unfortunately, just like Pit he was horrible at keeping things hidden.

"Hmm?" Palutena moved her head just enough to see that Pittoo was desperately trying to keep something hidden behind his back. Whatever it was he wanted to make sure that she wasn't able to tell what it was.

But his unusually large hands could only hide so much of a square photo frame.

"Is that-?!" Palutena instantly recognized the shape of what Pittoo was trying to hide. She turned around to confirm her suspicions, as she suspected the photo frame that usually sat on top of her dresser was gone. Along with all of Palutena's remaining patience.

Pittoo noticed the sudden shift in Palutena's mood and braced for the worst. He wasn't about to give in that easily.

If looks could kill the piercing glare Palutena gave Pittoo would have finished him on the spot.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't all that prepared to throw down with the Goddess of Light over a simple photo.

Without a word Palutena approached him, her staff in hand. She wouldn't do anything too drastic, would she? Pittoo braced himself for the _absolute_ worst.

To his surprise, and relief, all Palutena did was gently take the oh-so-important photo frame from his hands. Of course, his first reaction to that was to be annoyed that all his hard work had been so easily taken away from him, and he couldn't do anything about it!

Yet despite having some choice words for the Goddess none of them left his mouth. He was too busy looking at how she was staring at the photo, her expression was something Pittoo would even describe as 'remorseful'.

"You're not fooling anyone." Palutena looked almost surprised to hear Pittoo's voice. Had she forgotten he was there? He wouldn't put it past her.

"What do mean Pittoo?" she smiled at him. Pittoo couldn't believe it. Did Palutena really think she could still lie to him. Pit maybe, but not him. He was too smart for this. Too smart to be fooled by her fake smile and empty words.

"You've never cared."

Pittoo's words echoed in the room and Palutena's smile slowly faded.

"...I never cared? Would you care to elaborate on that?"

Still floating a few feet in the air, Dark Pit was able to look Palutena straight in the eyes and was more than glad to 'elaborate'.

"You're a goddess. There's no reason for you to care about anyone or anything under you! Every last one of you are the same! A big ego with the power to do whatever it is you want to do! No matter who it hurts! No matter who pays the price! All you ever care about is yourselves! Even though you have all this power, and for what?! To start a million little wars every few years just because you ran out of things to do?! "

Palutena said nothing.

She felt like this was something Dark Pit had been holding in for a long time. Feelings like these had no business being bottled up, so if he were to blow up in front of anyone it should be her.

"Did you even think of what would happen because you cursed Medusa?"

Palutena's calm demeanor vanished, "How did you-?"

"Pit told me." he gave a grim laugh, "That guy can't keep a secret if his life depended on it."

* * *

**-a breath of fresh air-**

(Pit bounced his bouncy ball off the wall of his room while Pittoo sat on a beanbag chair eating some loud crunchy chips in the corner.

"Hey, did you know Lady Palutena is the reason Medusa looks all ugly and scaryyyy!"

"Whatever." Pittoo chewed his chips louder.

Pit's ball bounced back and hit him in the face.)

* * *

**-open your heart-**

While Palutena was deep in thought of how on earth that conversation could have possibly gotten started, Dark Pit continued.

"Cursing Medusa must have seemed like a **great** idea huh? Guess you didn't think about what would happen if the Goddess who poisoned rivers and burned down villages turned her wrath on Skyworld instead?!"

"That is exactly why I did that Dark Pit."

For the first time since starting his venting, Dark Pit stopped to listen.

"If Medusa had kept attacking the humans none would have stood a chance. That's why..." she swallowed before answering, "...That's why I had to step in. I knew I could handle Medusa better than the humans ever could."

Dark Pit hated to admit it, but she was right, and history had her back too. But there was still one thing that was bothering him. He raised his hand and pointed right at it, the photo frame that Palutena had placed back in its spot.

"Then why did Pit...?"

There was no time for Palutena to even guess what Dark Pit meant by that before he said something that managed to shatter her heart into pieces.

"Why was he the one who had to do the work?! What happened to you?! Where were you?!"

Each statement was accompanied by an aggressive pointing motion at the photo of the Angel and his Goddess. His useless Goddess who could do nothing to save him from his fate of being thrown into the depths of the Underworld. Or do anything to save the hundreds of the others who were imprisoned just as he was, only they weren't so lucky.

At his age Pit had no reason to had gone through all of that. That is what Dark Pit meant.

"If you really cared about him then you would have done something! Anything! But **NO** even now all you do is pull Pit around by his puppet strings-and for what?! Just a few minutes of fly time?! He s constantly putting himself in danger for you! He cares so much about you but all you do is...is.."

Dark Pit had reached his emotional limit. All that was left now was for Palutena to respond.

No matter what she had to say she knew she had to do one thing first.

"Dark Pit...Are you alright?"

"Shut up."

Well that was taken care of now all that was left was...

Palutena took in a deep breath, prepping herself both mentally and...just mentally.

"Dark Pit you're right." he wasn't taken surprised by her response, it wasn't the first time she had agreed with him. However, it was not enough to trust her back then and it wouldn't be enough now. "Us gods are selfish and egotistical sometimes, well most times! We're all flawed little messes of a multitude of mistakes!"

Dark Pit's stance was not moved by this.

"That's why we all have to try and be better every day! Look at Viridi now, has she bombed any humans into oblivion recently?" Palutena face turned to panic for a brief second, "She hasn't has she?"

"Not that I know of."

"Oh, phew. Okay! See my point still stands! Viridi's doing fine and I'm..." she grew silent before continuing, the wounds from that arc of their lives left rather large scars. "...making amends!"

Palutena might as well have never said anything because Pittoo wasn't buying any of it, and she knew this. Palutena knew she couldn't change his worldview in one afternoon, but she could at least give him some hope that things weren't as grim and hopeless as they seemed.

Then there was the bigger issue...

Palutena wasted no time in cutting straight to the point. "It's true that Pit did have to face the Underworld and Medusa's army by himself back then. But he wasn't entirely alone."

"Hey! Centurions don't count!"

Oh, so it was a game now. "That's not what I meant. What I mean is I _was_ helping, in a way." Pittoo raised a very skeptical eyebrow. When he asked Pit about what he could remember from his first adventure he made it very clear that Palutena was nowhere to be seen. Not until the end at least, where she did a phenomenal amount of nothing.

She gave him a hat or something. Pit wasn't a good storyteller unfortunately.

"Pit probably told you how I was imprisoned by Medusa, right?" Dark Pit nodded and Palutena took this a cue to continue. "From there I could only use a little bit of my power unfortunately. but that small amount was enough to protect Pit from...well how do I put this lightly?"

Spoiler alert: there was no way to put it lightly.

"From dying."

"Oh."

"He was so small back then..." Palutena turned to look at the oh-so-important photo frame anyone would be sick of hearing about now, "Pit couldn't hold onto any weapon except for his bow and arrow. I don't know why he was so keen on using one, but I suppose it worked out in the end."

At this point it looked like Palutena had stopped explaining things now, instead she somehow seemed sorry about everything. Dark Pit didn't buy it.

"After he rescued me, he was so happy to see me...but I could tell he was so tired. It wasn't until he told me about everything he had done, everything he'd seen that I realized the weight of my mistakes.

"Huh...?"

"Medusa was my responsibility.** Not his.** Pit was never supposed to get caught up in all this. Imagine that, my flightless Angel being the one to stop Medusa and her army." she laughed, "Fate must have a really bad sense of humor."

Four minutes had now passed, and despite the feelings and answers that were laid bare, Dark Pit still had one concern.

"Then why...why do you have that picture?"

Palutena's stance stiffened and her voice cracked, "I keep it there as a reminder!

Pittoo was stunned straight into silence.

"Ever since that day I vowed to always protect Pit no matter what! I will never leave him helpless and alone ever again!" Palutena's voice shook and her eyes burned. "No matter what happens I will be there for him! Even when I'm long gone, I'm going to be there! I don't know how but I will!

All those years ago even when Palutena was willing to cheat death and their millions of Reapers to save Pit's life, Dark Pit hadn't really bought it that Palutena cared about his twin. All they needed Pit for was to defeat Hades. That was it.

Palutena could go on all day about how much Pit did for everyone and how he deserved her protection, but it was all a lie...right? But maybe there was something more, something that he wasn't willing to admit. If Pit had someone who cared for him that much, then...?

"What about me...?

If it wasn't for the smoky smell coming from Pittoo's wings Palutena would have forgotten to bring him down.

* * *

**-h-hey so hows pit's cleaning going!-**

Outside of one of Skyworld's famous Hot Springs a Centurion Captain flew by making his usual rounds. The daily patrol was usually a piece of cake, a simple fly by to make sure there were no intruders or incidents that ended with a lunch of a literal piece of cake.

Humming to himself he was almost clear of the Hot Spring and his assignment when he spotted the Captain standing on the steps of the Hot Spring. "Good afternoon Captain!" he happily greeted, as he always did.

Oddly, the Captain did not respond back. Pit didn't give his usual smile and wave, there was nothing.

Centurion Captains are always on their toes, so to speak. So, whenever something out of the ordinary happens such as Pit not saying hello back, their first instinct is to investigate. The Centurion Captain diverged from his route, his action alerting the surrounding Centurions and calling them to his position.

"Captain?" still no response.

Centurions arrived by the dozens, each one more worried about the unusual state of their Captain. Unfortunately, no matter how much they called for Lady Palutena's help she would not respond.

Didn't she know the Captain was in trouble?!

Pit had fallen into a deep slumber. One which he could not wake up from himself.

* * *

**-the lives we tried to reclaim-**

Five minutes had finally gone by.

Without a word Palutena slowly lowered Dark Pit onto the floor, his feet finally gently touching the ground. Instead of taking off like before, this time he remained still.

They both did.

"I just-"

Palutena thought Dark Pit had just about now exhausted his frustrations out on her. It was naïve of her to think that the only things heavy on his mind and heart were related to his issues with the Gods.

She should have known better.

"Dark Pit? What's wrong?"

Then suddenly from out of nowhere, Dark Pit felt a sudden burst of energy. Almost as if someone out there had granted him a whole other health bar. That mysterious someone must have had his back because all his motivation and energy had returned.

Too bad it was the wrong place and the wrong time.

"You wanna know what's wrong?" Palutena had a bad feeling about this but she knew she had to listen.

"Me! Apparently!" he spread his arms and gestured to himself. "Look at me! I'm the 'dark' and 'edgy' clone of some other flightless Angel that got lucky and saved the world once or twice. Everyone says I didn't come out right but what am I supposed to say to that? Am I supposed to agree that I'm some freak?!"

Dark Pit was now pacing around the room. He was filled with so much energy that simply yelling it out wasn't enough.

"I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with, people had to spell it out for me! At this point my only real friend is Pit! And that doesn't even count because he's me! I mean I'm know I'm not exactly him but let's not kid ourselves I'm his clone no matter how many times you people tell me I'm not!"

The motivation that Dark Pit had was quickly wearing itself thin.

"And don't get me started on dealing with Pit! No matter how many times I tell him that he and I need to live for ourselves, he won't listen! It makes me just wanna leave him behind and go on living free by myself...but I can't do that to him."

He sadly flapped his wings, "How can I live for myself when_ everything_ just weighs me down? If I can't do what I want, then...what can I do?"

That was the last his energy, gone.

Palutena was speechless. She never imagined he'd been holding all that in, and for how long? What could she even say?

"Dark Pit, I'm so sorry...I'm-"

"Don't give me that!"

Palutena flinched back.

* * *

**-Emotional Skyscraper-**

_"His very existence is unnatural. He must be eliminated."_

Dark pit shrunk in on himself, his wings curling around him. "That's what you said. Or did you think I would forget." Everything hurt now. His chest felt tight and this throat felt dry. He desperately wanted to leave.

Leave and forget about everything that he had said and what happened. But it was too late now.

Palutena, still taken aback, was still trying to process what Dark Pit said. There had never been any signs that Dark Pit held _this much_ resentment for her.

No, no she couldn't blame this on anyone but herself. There had been signs, but Palutena had written them off as Dark Pit being his typical rebellious self. Contempt for the Gods was one thing, but the contempt he had towards her? There was a whole other reason for that.

"Dark Pit...I'm-"

"Pit even considered not attacking me. Do you remember?" his voice sounded distant, as if he was also trying to remember.

_"Ok...I mean, it's still weird to me, but it makes sense when you explain it."_

"It was only because of **you** that he did!" his eyes were full of tears. At this point there was no use in trying to hide it anymore, he figured. He was upset and Palutena was going to have to deal with that. Because enough was enough!

Palutena sighed, what was she supposed to say? There was the obvious apology but that wasn't good enough.

It was true she had wanted to destroy Dark Pit, as soon as he had emerged from the Mirror of Truth Palutena had registered him as a high-level threat. Someone who was on an equal level as Pit, maybe even stronger, and working for the underworld army? That spelled trouble no matter the difference ways you could spell it.

Then came the revelation that Dark Pit had come out incomplete, a flawed copy. He, as it turns out decided that he worked for no one but himself. Palutena's mind was filled with all sorts of deadly scenarios that a chaotic Angel could cause, her humans wouldn't stand a chance if he one day decided to wage war on them.

He had to eliminated.

It wasn't until years later that she came to see just how wrong she was. Palutena saw how Dark Pit valued justice for others and how much he'd come to care for Pit. His contempt for the Gods didn't come from a place of hatred (well maybe a little. no one was perfect.). It came from a desire to see the powerful take responsibility. From his point of view the Gods had abused their power to cause chaos and woe for others for too long. He wished for nothing more than to see the Gods knocked down a peg or two, preferably because of him.

Palutena herself had even agreed with him at one point, Gods played a large part in the suffering of humankind.

"Dark Pit..." Palutena tried to speak to him again.

Dark Pit dared not look up, not when he could feel tears streaming down his face. There was no way he was letting Palutena of all people see him this weak. Pit was the one who would do something like this, not him!

He wasn't Pit.

He didn't need any of the pity his twin got. He was strong enough to live without it.

The sight of a sad Angel is something most people can't bear to see, Palutena being one of them. She could tell Dark Pit was trying so **so** hard to not break down even further than he already had. Since the moment of his creation he'd preferred to do things by himself for himself.

Over the years the bonds he'd created granted him the astounding luck of receiving affection from others and for others.

Still, it was clear he just needed a little push sometimes. It was obvious what she had to do now.

Then without even a second thought-

-she took Dark Pit and pulled him into a tight hug.

There was no time to react. No time to yell at her to let him go. No time to stick out his tongue and tell hugging and showing affection was gross. No, instead he just sat there in her embrace.

"I don't know how I'll fix this. I know you have no reason to trust me." she said, hugging him tight.

He was no stranger to hugs, Pit hugged him all the time. But this? It felt different. It felt warmer.

"But I give you my word that I will make it up to you."

"...W-What are you talking about?" Dark Pit was still even up to this point, trying to act cool.

Palutena couldn't help but giggle. "I'm going to earn your trust. That's what I'm talking about!"

"Wha-?"

Dark Pit pulled away from her hug, panicked and deeply embarrassed, mostly the latter. Palutena simply laughed and playfully ruffled his hair.

"H-Hey? What's that about? What is wrong with you?!" Pittoo steeped back and styled his hair back exactly the way he liked it. Something fishy was definitely going on, if not then what was going on?!

Pittoo looked at Palutena, she was smiling again, but something felt different. Just like the hug she gave him, her smile felt warmer than usual.

Like she really meant it.

"Dark Pit-." she lightly bopped his nose, "I hope we spend more time together soon."

"I-um..." he nervously rubbed the back of his head, a tick that he shared with Pit. "I... That'd be nice, I guess? I think I'd rather have Pit there too."

_'Baby steps Palutena!'_ she thought to herself. If Dark Pit was ever going to trust her, if he was ever going to trust anyone besides himself, then any sort of progress was good. There was no way to go backwards from here, at least she hoped not.

_'It's one step at a time! Just like with-' _

"The Captain!"

* * *

**-too many centurions too little time-**

It all happened so fast.

One second Dark Pit and Palutena were talking amongst themselves. Then the very next second, a Centurion Strongarm and his small Centurion friend crashed through the doors in total panic.

"Woah there! What is going with you two?!" the pair of Centurions were in a such a tizzy that not even Palutena could calm them down, as they flew from one side of the room to another. Afraid that they would hurt themselves Palutena continued trying to ask them what was wrong, but again all the Centurions managed to say was panicky nonsense.

It wasn't until Dark Pit let out a loud whistle that the Centurions were brought back down to reality. Literally.

"Centurions! At attention!" Dark Pit commanded. The Centurions immediately landed in front of the Dark Captain and saluted, awaiting further instructions.

Dark Pit had seen Pit pull off the same maneuver a few times before, mostly when he wanted a free ride somewhere high up or when they both lost a ball somewhere high up. He never imagined he would be using the same trick himself. Heck, he was surprised it even worked.

"Good work Pittoo!" Palutena praised him, putting her hand on his shoulder. He turned away to make sure Palutena wouldn't see the light blush on his face. "Wh-Whatever it was nothing! Anyway, don't we have something more important to worry about?!" the Centurions were no longer saluting but looked desperate to tell both Palutena and Dark Pit something of absolute importance.

"Hey. You guys do know I don't have to tell you to talk right?"

"Right! What's wrong my centurions?"

The Centurions faced each other and gave a nod. They both took a deep breath and spoke clearly and slowly.

"YoundasnnrwanusnuisandiusanfiusanfkjwankjwandkjasdsapitcacpataicianfnsnsnninssleepingdmsmahthehotssppfeirnfgyoeuerehLEPR!"

...Well they spoke.

Palutena starred at the Centurions. Try as she might she didn't understand a single word that the they had said, and here she was supposed to be in charge of the guy in charge of these guys.

"What?!" Palutena jumped, Dark Pit looked shocked about something. There was no possible way he could have understood the gibberish the Centurions just said?! "Pit passed out on the steps of a Hot Spring and no matter what you do you can't wake him up?!"

Or maybe he did.

The Centurions nodded, confirming that Dark Pit had heard right. Which meant that-

"Pits in trouble?!" Palutena quickly grabbed her staff and turned to run out the door.

The pair of Centurions took off in the direction of where their Captain was, hoping to lead the Goddess and Angel right to him.

"Pittoo quick! We don't have a moment to lose!"

Pittoo nodded. The sudden change in tone was a little startling but if there was something wrong with Pit then he didn't have the time to worry about it.

"Then let's go!"

Before following Palutena out the door, Pittoo took one last look at the photo frame that had started the whole mess.

He hadn't noticed it at first, but despite the ruins of Skyworld and both of their injuries; Pit and Palutena were smiling.

* * *

**-family outing-**

By the time Palutena and Pittoo showed up to the fateful Hot Springs hundreds of Centurions had already gathered in a worried circle around their precious Captain.

The Centurions, noticing that Palutena and Dark Pit had arrived, quickly opened a path for them that lead directly to the sleeping Angel.

"Thank you, Centurions." she quickly bowed her head and went to go check on whatever could had happened to Pit, Pittoo right behind her. Unlike Palutena, he didn't say much to the Centurions. He hoped they would understand he had more pressing issues to attend to.

Once the duo was past the crowd, they could see that Pit was still in the same place he was when the first centurion found him. However, instead of standing asleep as the first Centurion had seen him a Strongarm had gently laid Pit on his side on the steps of the Hot Spring.

"Pit!" Palutena raced forward stopping just a few inches in front of Pit. Pittoo unsure of what to do stood beside her.

Palutena and Pittoo didn't even get time to worry about Pit's state before his eyes fluttered open. After a large yawn and a stretch, it looked like Pit had finally woken up from the mysterious sleep he had fallen into.

"Hey Lady Palutena..."

Rubbing his eyes, Pit's vision finally cleared up enough to recognize the other figure that was closest to him. To his surprise it was Pittoo, who was looking unnaturally worried and also unnaturally close to Lady Palutena.

"Pittoo? Is that you?" Pit lightly tapped Pittoo's face to make sure what he was seeing wasn't falling for some sort of trick. Other than a scowl Dark Pit did nothing in response to Pit's stupid test. Once it was clear to Pit that the twin standing in front of him was indeed his brother his confusion turned to genuine surprise, "You're still here?"

"It's a surprise for me too."

Palutena hated to interrupt such nice moment but she still had to make sure Pit was alright.

All worrying aside he looked fine. But sometimes there was more to things than outwardly appearances.

"Pit? Do you have any idea what happened?" Pit rewound his last few memories before waking up to find something he did that was out of place. Throughout his retelling however there was nothing that seemed out of place or dangerous.

"I don't know Lady Palutena. I guess I must have just fallen asleep?" Wait. A visible wave of panic washed over Pit. Both Palutena and Pittoo noticed this and grew concerned that something was about to go wrong again.

Instead Pit stood up and bowed, "I'm so sorry Lady Palutena! I-I don't think I've ever fallen asleep on the job! I'll get back to work right away!" Palutena's own worry faded only to be replaced with a small sense of guilt.

"Pit, how about we take a break for today?"

"Huh?" both Angels and the entirety of the Centurion Guard 'Huh-ed.'

Never in the long history of Skyworld did 'Skyworld Cleaning Day' did the workers take a "Break for the day." The break came at the very end of the day with a big party and everything! The idea of stopping and picking up the next day was practically unheard of!

Dark Pit, of course knew nothing about this tradition. He was just surprised the same Goddess who told Pit to go defeat Hades right after he had gotten his wings back just told him to take a break.

"Pittoo! That was different! That was a life and death matter!"

"Okay, sure. But cleaning isn't. So, listen to her."

"I am! I'm just-"Pit stopped and stared at his brother in shock, "Did...Did you just tell me to listen to Lady Palutena?!"

Pittoo let out a huff of hot air, "What about it?" Pit tried his hardest to tell him that that was incredibly out of character for him and something that he never expected to hear coming out of his mouth. If he had he'd assume the world would be coming to an end or that something just as bad was happening.

Instead all he managed to say was, "Weird."

"It's not weird if she's giving you good advice." Dark Pit took a quick look at Palutena then turned back to Pit, "For once."

Pit thought it over, for once.

"Okay! Whatever you say Lady Palutena!" he reached up to grab his bandana that I had not forgotten he had been wearing up until this point and placed it gently on the ground.

"Centurions! You heard your orders! Skyworld Cleaning Day is temporarily postponed! As of now your orders are to take a break!" the Centurions around Pit and all over Skyworld saluted in response, immediately taking off in different directions to take part in whatever Centurions do when they're not guarding Palutena. (Listen i can only come up with so many ideas)

"Aren't they excited?" Palutena gazed off into the horizon trying to see where most of her Centurions had flown but that was pretty much impossible. If only she hadn't forgotten her staff back in her room.

"Soooo what do you wanna do Lady Palutena?"

"Hmm?"

"You said we were all taking a break, so what do you wanna do?" Pit's wings flapped in anticipation, he was very excited to hear what cool thing he and Lady Palutena would do while they weren't bogged down with cleaning.

Dark Pit rolled his eyes at the act.

Palutena looked to be in deep thought about Pit's question, and to Dark Pit it felt like nothing had changed.

Until-"What do you want to do Pit?" she asked. Of course, this wasn't the first time Palutena had given Pit a choice rather than have her decide but it was certainly one of the rarer things to happen in Skyworld. Especially when it happened outside of a battle or mission.

"Huh? Lady Palutena are you sure? You usually hate the stuff I choose to do!"

_'Ah'_ Palutena thought,_ 'He's still bad at lying I see.'_

"Come on Pitstain! She's giving you a chance to do whatever we want! Don't blow this!"

"Hey! Lady Palutena said this was my decision!"

"I'm your clone so I count too!"

"Why does it seem you're only 'my clone' when its convenient for you?"

After their playful argument both brothers came to the bold and daring decision that the two wanted to spend their break soaking in the warmest, coziest, and biggest Hot Spring Skyworld could offer.

Palutena happily obliged and accompanied them to the Hot Spring they had been standing in front of the whole time. Jury was still out whether it was indeed the warmest, coziest and biggest Hot Spring in Skyworld, but as long as Pit and Pittoo were happy that was enough for her.

* * *

**-pittoos sleeping on a bean bag chair, its fine-**

Sitting on the sides of the Hot Spring Palutena couldn't help but smile watching both Angels play in the Hot Spring until nightfall.

Palutena got quite an earful from Viridi for keeping Pittoo up way past his bedtime, because as it turns out both Angels had passed out in Pit's room shortly after returning from the Hot Spring. It had been an exhausting day, not only for Pit but for Dark Pit as well. Reluctantly, Viridi agreed to let Dark Pit spend the night in Skyworld.

"If Pittoo decides to yell at me for a mistake YOU made, then you'll be sorry!"

If only she knew...

Among the rest of Skyworld denizens, many of the Centurions also slept earlier than usual in their quarters. This brought Skyworld to a silent standstill. At the end of the day Palutena took one last look at the slumbering Angels and turned in for the night herself.

Finally bringing Skyworld cleaning day to a close.


	6. Super Smash Bros is considered

**In which Super Smash Bros. is considered**

* * *

**-let's kick it like its 2008!—**

**...**

**...**

**And I mean it.**

**...**

**Pit: woahhhh! :O where are we?!**

**Palutena: it appears we're in a fan fiction. Not the weirdest thing to happen to us by far. **

**Me: AAAAAAAAH! HOW DID YOU BOTH GET INTO MY ROOM!?**

**Pit: huh what room-?! OW STOP SMACKING ME WITH THAT BROOM **

**Me: now I don't feel so bad for what I wrote :( **

**Palutena: -sweatdrop- oh my.**

**Me: enjoy the fan fic everyooooone :D**

* * *

It was another quiet day in Skyworld. Emphasis on quiet, nothing much or at all had happened in Skyworld for about the past twenty years.

A trend that would continue for several years after this but never mind that now-

The last incident had involved a demon named Orcos and even before that there was the War on Medusa. Both evils were stopped by the very young Angel known as; Pit. With some help from Palutena's Centurion Guard of course. Since then the small Angel had grown into a significantly less smaller Angel, though he was still a little on the short side.

Pit had never even grown out of his old tunic. He did however take to wearing more accessories as he grew older. He was practically attached to an old scarf Palutena had gifted him when he was younger. Even though the years had not been kind to it and the scarf required many stitches, he still wore it every day.

As for his wings they grew out quite a lot, according to him. Pit had even learned to glide using them. Not the same or even close to flying but it was something his wings could do! Sure, he wasn't very good at gliding yet, but he had time. Now that the dangers had passed, Pit, the new Captain of the Guard, found himself with too much free time on his hands. It's not that he hated that there was no great evil threatening Skyworld, no way!

...Or maybe he did. Pit never was the type to let people know what he really felt. Not even to himself.

At this very moment in time, said Angel was currently sleeping on a soft pile of cushions that he had placed on a courtyard near the western side of the temple. When asked by Palutena why he did this he answered; "That's the spot with the warmest sunlight!" Palutena didn't want to break it to him that all sunlight was the same temperature no matter where it shined, but she did consider telling him when he kept bringing the good cushions outside.

"It feels like sleeping on a cloud!" he'd said. She couldn't deny that. The cushions were awfully comfy. So, she let him have this one. He'd well earned it.

But it was during this fateful nap that the course of Pit's life suddenly changed directions. Along with the rare summer wind keeping him cool that morning.

It wasn't noticed by him because he had been asleep at the time, but the wind suddenly changed direction from east to west. Unlike Pit, some Centurions were certainly caught off guard. A couple even fell a few feet before managing to regain their senses.

That's when a mysterious object slapped Pit right in the face.

"AHH!" caught off guard and now awake, Pit instinctively reached for his wooden bow and shot an arrow in a completely random direction. This brilliant move by him ended up almost downing one Centurion.

Pit meanwhile was still blinded by the mysterious object still stuck to his face.

"Uh? W-What's going on? Did I oversleep?"

The answer to Pit's question gently slid off his face, landing near his feet. "What's that...?" he bent down and grabbed the oddly shaped object. In his hands the object felt light and papery, almost as if were made of paper. The oddest part by far was the strange red marking in the center of the paper.

_'Is this...a snack?'_ Pit thought,_ 'Or maybe a new kind of Underworld enemy?!'_ Both ideas were quickly thrown out the window. Pit figured that the Underworld wouldn't resort to using paper to attack someone and you can't eat paper silly!

Pit racked his head with other ideas. Until he came up with his best idea yet.

"I got it! Maybe Great Palutena would know more about this!"

* * *

**-you cant give it up now!-**

Finding where Palutena was wasn't hard. These days she spent most of her time in her throne room, watching the humans below and listening to the handful of prayers from her believers.

What was hard was working up the nerve to interrupt such an important activity.

Pit had been standing in front of the doors to Palutena's throne room for about eleven minutes now. He spent the whole time arguing with himself whether or not a piece of paper with a strange symbol on it was important enough to interrupt Great Palutena's extremely seriously serious job. If it wasn't, he would probably get in mega trouble.

"M-Maybe it's nothing."

"Or maybe it's something!"

"What if it's just a piece of trash a Centurion lost?"

"Or what if it's a sign that someone's coming to attack us!?"

Pit's banter between himself went back and forth until he finally swallowed his fears and decided to gently knock on the door.

Meanwhile inside her throne room, Palutena was suddenly awoken from her midday nap by a strange soft knock at the door. "Who could that be?" she rubbed her eyes awake and glanced at the clock, "What?! I was only supposed to rest my eyes a few minutes not a few hours!"

Watching humankind could be especially boring sometimes.

The first thing Palutena did before answering the door was check on the Humans she had started watching just a few eight hours ago. Yup, they were still tending to the same crops they had been before. How in the world Humans had the patience for that kind of work was beyond her understanding. Palutena could barely keep herself awake watching the work, she couldn't imagine actually putting in the effort.

That just added more allure to the enigma of Humanity.

Palutena shut her All-Seeing Eye off and went to go see if whoever had knocked at the door was still around. The doors slowly opened, and Pit froze, too terrified to run away and too scared of the possibility of being responsible for interrupting Great Palutena's very hard work. Palutena poked her head out, still a little dazed from just waking up.

"Who's there?"

"It's me Great Palutena!"

Well, that immediately woke Palutena up.

"Pit! I'm so happy to see you! I was wondering when you would work up the nerve to come visit." contrary to Pit's fears Palutena had been secretly hoping that one day he would have the courage to visit her in the Throne Room himself. Since he had come to live in the Temple that was the one place he actively avoided, for whatever reason. Palutena was determined to show him that there was nothing to be afraid of. He especially should never be afraid of her.

...Buuut Palutena never did like making things easy for the poor Angel.

Palutena's words of encouragement flew right over Pit's head and instead of the confused question Palutena expected him to ask he instead held up a mysterious object to her face.

"Great Palutena while I was napping this thing attacked my face! I don't know what it is and I've never seen anything like it!"

The mystery thing was definitely something Palutena had seen before, it was something Humans used to communicate with other Humans that lived quite a distance away. Though the ones the Humans used looked a little different from the one Pit held in his hands.

"I'm worried that it could be a sign of something really bad! T-That's why I came to you Great Palutena"

That was so like Pit, ever the protective Angel.

"It's nothing like that Pit! This is what Humans call an_ 'envelope'_. " she gently took the paper from his hands to get a closer look, while Pit silently mouthed the words _'envelope'_ to himself. Just like the envelopes the Humans used Palutena was certain there was something in it. Whoever had sent it wanted to get a message to Skyworld, but what kind of message was it?

"Pit?"

Pit took a break from trying to pronounce envelope right to answer Palutena, "Yeah? What's up?"

"Is it alright if I open this?"

"Open?" Pit gasped, "It's not gonna explode like an Underworld enemy is it?"

Palutena nervously laughed, "Of course not! Pit why would you even-?" She really needed to take time out her day one day and teach Pit something besides fighting, they practically had all the time in the world now.

"Oh. Okay! Then open it up, I wanna see what's inside." Pit jumped up repeatedly trying to get a better look at envelope Palutena was about to open. Ignoring the fact that Pit was not that much shorter than her, he wanted to see exactly what this weird papery thing was. Palutena ripped open the envelope as all envelopes should be, completely ripped open from their side.

Inside was a simple letter, addressed to Pit.

_'Hmm, they must not have gotten the memo about him.'_ Palutena decided she would read it aloud for both of them. She took a seat on the marble floor, Pit scooting up beside her ready to listen to what she would say.

'_Dear Pit (Mirror of) Palutena' _

"That's not my name!"

"...As I was saying-"

'_You are cordially invited to take part in the next Super Smash Bros. tournament. _

_As you know this tournament includes participants from all over the various Nintendo universes-and then some. Since you are a Newcomer, included with this invitation are the new and old rules we have decided on for this tournament. More information will be sent out as the day of the tournament grows closer._

_The start of the tournament will be December 3rd, 2007. Make sure to arrive prepared and ready to participate two weeks before the start date._

_Please be aware that the start date of the tournament is always subject to change._

_We hope to see you here!_

_~your always friendly host, mas_T_er h_A_nd._

_ps. please keep your omnipotent fourth wall _B_reaking to a min_U_mum or face the consq_U_ences.'_

The letter slowly dropped from Palutena's shaking hands, fluttering to the ground. "Pit...Do you know what this means?" she asked, hoping to hear that she hadn't heard herself wrong and that Pit heard the same thing.

Pit was stunned silent.

"Pit. You're going to be in a new video game..."

The two sat in shock for the next several minutes.

* * *

**-losing the game before it even started-**

The first thing Palutena decided to do after lunch was lock herself in her room, as to avoid any kind of distraction. Maybe then she would finally finish the special gift she had planned to give him for his birthday.

Around ten years ago.

Palutena never thought she would wind up creating weapons for herself or anyone else, so she never really bothered asking anyone to teach her. But she had wanted to give Pit something special for defeating Orcos and saving Skyworld from disaster yet again. The best way she could think of doing that was giving him a worthy replacement for his bow. A weapon crafted by her and blessed with her own power.

The absolute worst part of it all was that it was almost finished! All she needed to do was figure out a way to give the wielder complete control over the arrows. Which was way easier said than done. She considered asking Dyntos for help at one point but firmly decided from doing that ever again. Palutena shuddered, remembering the last time she had asked for his help.

_'He kept talking right into the next day...'_

She and Medusa agreed then are there that they would never ever ask him for anything ever again after that. Especially when it came to help, questions about baby Angels, weapons, or all three.

But that was in the past. So maybe she should...?

While deep in thought about whether her dignity could stand another scolding from Dyntos a strange light shined into her eyes. She looked up, wondering what light she hadn't accounted for could possibly be pointing straight at her. To her surprise she found herself staring directly at the moon.

"Have I been working all night?!" scrambling away from her drawers she had made into her makeshift worktable she ran to look at the clock. "What?! There's no way it can be that late can it?" if the clock was telling the truth then Palutena had been working on her weapon for well over six hours now! She was nowhere near finishing it either, and according to Pit's invitation he only had one week to prepare!

Palutena stopped.

"...Pit? Are you still awake?"

There was no answer. Well, unless you count very clearly fake snoring from Pit as an answer.

"Oh Pit." if Palutena wasn't there to personally tell Pit to get some rest he would usually spend the late hours of the night either training or playing video games, whichever he felt like. _'The Captain of Great Palutena's guard can't rest! I gotta be on high alert to always protect you Great Palutena!_' was always Pit's excuse for staying up late. Which was an admirable excuse for someone in his position.

But not a good excuse for someone who was twelve-angel years old.

Putting on her good slippers Palutena got ready to go to Pit's room. It would be just her luck if he would be too excited about today's news to sleep. But he would be winning no tournaments without a proper good night's sleep.

"Pit! If you're not asleep by the time I get to your room you're going to be in biiiig trouble."

The sounds of loud shuffling and constant "No Nono No"s echoed in Palutena's head, looks like her threat worked. Of course she would still check if Pit was sleeping or not.

Before exiting her room Palutena took one last look at her weapon she had lost literal days of her life working on. A majestic golden bow that she had designed herself. Despite her trouble of getting the arrows to work, she was proud that she managed to figure out how to split the bow into two usable swords. Pit had always expressed his interest in using other weapons than a bow, Palutena figured a sword would be the easiest first stepping stone for that. Palutena smiled, she couldn't wait till the day she would be able to finally give Pit the final product. The look on his face was going to be absolutely worth every hour.

She giggled and closed the doors behind her.

...

Palutena's bow began glowing, light from the moon making it shine a beautiful golden color. A blessing had been bestowed upon it, though as to who and what kind is still a mystery. The next morning after a test run she found she could control the arrows perfectly.

The weapon was finally completed but Palutena had no idea how.

She prayed to herself that it wasn't Dyntos.

* * *

**-bop bop bop to the top!-**

"Great Palutena, what if it looks bad?"

Palutena paced around Pit's room, her hands covering her eyes. "Don't be silly Pit! Everyone is going to love your new outfit!" she stepped over one of his out of place toys, sensing it was there.

"They haven't seen me in years! They probably forgot what I look like!"

"Which is why you need to make a great first impression!"

Pit knew Great Palutena was right. First impressions were important, especially if he was going to stand out in a crowd of thirty or so people. Wait. How many people were actually going to be at the tournament? How many people were going to be watching him?! How many people would be looking and judging his every move?!

"Great Palutena I changed my mind I can't go!" Pit ran to hide under his desk. Palutena didn't see where he was exactly, considering her eyes were still shut and covered. "What? Why the sudden change of heart Pit?" she had a sneaking suspicion why he suddenly decided to opt out of the tournament, but she needed to hear it from him.

"It's just...what if I embarrass myself?" Pit cowered more under his small desk, "I'm gonna mess things up in front of Mario and Link and Samus and they'll never wanna talk to me again!"

Ah, Pit's good old rare stage fright. Although Pit had a show-offy streak a mile long there was always the occasional episode where he would suddenly become very nervous performing in front of a crowd. It was rare occurrence, but it was something Palutena knew he had, and something Pit unfortunately knew he had as well.

Palutena maneuvered herself closer to where she had Pit's voice come from.

"Pit, I'm sure you won't embarrass yourself that badly."

"Great Palutena!"

She shrugged, not sure if Pit could see her do so from wherever he was hiding. "It's true! You're bound to make some mistakes, especially since I'm not allowed to give you my always helpful advice." according to the attached rules Palutena could only provide help with a single attack, an all out last ditch effort called a 'Final Smash'. Palutena figured it was better than nothing.

"You're not exactly making me feel any better Great Palutena" Pit's voice sounded much farther away than before. He'd crawled all the way to the end of his table, facing the wall. Completely hidden to the world unless they were to look down. Palutena, still in the dark, ducked down. "I'm not going to lie to you and say that you'll do everything perfectly. It almost never works out that way." if Pit were still able to see Palutena he would have noticed the small sad solemn look on her face.

"I'm positive you'll make at least one new friend. And even if you make all the mistakes in the world your friends will always stick by you!" Pit had no reason to not believe in Palutena's words, her advice was always right and she would never ever **EVER** steer him the wrong way. But something deep inside of him couldn't help wondering, was she wrong this time?

"How do you know that?" he whispered, hoping Palutena wouldn't be able to hear him.

"Because I still have you Pit."

Almost immediately Pit denied her claims, "W-What are you talking about Great Palutena?! Someone as amazing as you could never make mistakes!" Palutena sighed, she knew Pit meant well but he couldn't be farther from the truth. Palutena's problems would have to wait another day however. Right now, she had to get Pit out of wherever he was hiding.

"What I mean is-everything is going to work out just fine Pit. Trust me."

He did trust her, he just couldn't trust himself. "Great Palutena I..." Pit went quiet again. This was all getting to be much harder than Palutena was anticipating, and her arms were getting tired from holding them up to her eyes.

"...You really think I'll be okay?"

"Of course I do! Am I ever wrong Pit?"

"Never Great Palutena!"

"Then there's your answer!"

Palutena heard the familiar sounds of an Angel scrambling to his feet. It sounded like Pit had finally overcome his stage fright, with Palutena's help of course. With a new burst of confidence Pit ran to finish putting on the last touches of his new outfit.

"You're right Great Palutena! I'm gonna knock everyone's socks off!" Pit walked around the room, adjusting himself to his new sandals, "Even if they don't wear socks!" The only thing Pit was missing now was his new laurel crown, and Palutena had promised she would put that on for him.

After she had seen him in his new outfit.

"I'm ready Great Palutetna!"

Palutena could barely contain her excitement as she finally got read to open her eyes. "Okay! One! Two! Three!"

In front of her Pit struck a victorious pose in his new look. He was wearing a bright and shiny new tunic Palutena had picked out herself. In truth the outfit was part of one of Palutena's old outfits. As a result, the tunic ended up being a bit larger than the both of them had anticipated. So Palutena came up with the brilliant idea of tying it up with a belt. The tunic successfully looped around itself and formed a breezy and comfortable new look for Pit. While the belt fix had been Palutena's idea, Pit had been very insistent on tying it himself. He needed to learn how to do it himself without Great Palutena's help after all!

Not only was his tunic new he was sporting new stylish sandals, the kind that were all the rage down in the Overworld. Palutena had made sure Pit was going to be the most stylish person in the tournament. His new binder, the only thing she had sent out to order, seemed to be a perfect fit for him as well. Palutena was ecstatic, everything had worked out! He looked like a fighter and adorable at the same time, she couldn't have been prouder.

Pit had grown up so fast.

* * *

**-ignorance is bliss-**

Pit steeped onto the surface world for the first time in a long time. Immediately he felt out of his element. Everywhere he turned there seemed to be another famous Nintendo hero! To say that he was absolutely starstruck would not be an exaggeration. _'Ack! Focus Pit!'_ with light slaps to his face Pit regained his composure. Or at least, enough of it to not look like he was about to burst out yelling for the autographs of everyone in the room. Which he so wanted to do. Desperately.

Pit set his bags down and started going over his game plan. Which he had drawn out in a special notebook, just like a professional would!

"Okay! Step one!" his eyes glanced to a drawing of himself arriving at his destination. It was a stadium that was built for the new Super Smash Bros. tournament, appropriately given the subtitle _'Brawl.'_ "Get to the Smash Brothers tournament! Great Palutena took care of that for me! I should thank her again when I get the chance." that was step one taken care of! Pit happily hummed, this was going to be a piece of cake!

He turned the page to check out the next step. "Step two! Earn the respect and adoration of every person at the tournament and become best friends with every single one of them!" Pit looked up from his notebook and eyed the group of villains who were talking amongst themselves, "...Okay maybe not every single one of them."

Well, that only meant less people for Pit to worry about! He had to think positive and keep himself upbeat!

He closed his notebook, since step 2 was also the last step there was no need to look over it anymore. The notebook needed the extra pages for Pit to draw out reminders and cool things that would happen to him later anyway. With his bags in tow Pit took a deep breath and walked towards the closest group of fighters he saw, that wasn't the villains of course. That was a challenge for another braver and dumber Pit.

This Pit, the Pit of 2008, was much more content trying to make friends with the cool blue-haired sword wielders.

All he had to do was act cool and tough! He was no longer the weak little kid fighting with a wooden bow and struggling to get out of the Underworld, he was bigger now! There was no way he could ever lose!

And he would make sure everyone here knew that.

* * *

**-the disappearance of pit the angel-**

After a hectic day of introductions and orientation all Pit wanted now was some peace and quiet. Which even he found weird, he thought he'd gotten his full share of that back at Skyworld.

But that wasnt whole story. The truth was that Pit was just tired.

A grand total of only Mario had recognized him and called him by name. Everyone else simply knew him as _'that one obscure pick'_ that they had heard so much about. All that hard work and for what, to be paraded around as an unexpected guest?

That's why, before the ceremony had even ended Pit snuck out and tried to find the most isolated place he could reach. Unfortunately for him, the most isolated place also happened to be the one of the coldest.

There was no wind on Icicle Mountain, thank goodness. Pit gripped onto his scarf, trying in vain to keep himself warm.

He shouldn't cry. His tears would probably freeze and hurt him.

"Are you lost?"

"You're pretty far from your assigned home kiddo."

Pit quickly wiped at his eyes, desperately trying to hide any evidence that he had come here to be alone and potentially cry. He didn't know who exactly would be crazy enough to follow him into the freezing cold but leave it to Pit to forget about the Ice Climbers. The stars of the NES game...Ice Climber. Pit mentally kicked himself for forgetting they were invited too, Ice Climber was one of the NES games he played the most of with Great Palutena.

Though she always had this funny look on her face whenever they played together.

"Y-Yeah I'm...lost." hopefully they'd buy that. He was a Newcomer so getting lost once or twice was bound to happen. He did have to go out his away to get Icicle Mountain but maybe they wouldn't notice.

Popo and Nana stared at him in silence while Pit's nervous laughter grew quieter and quieter. Okay. Maybe they didn't believe him.

The blue climber, Popo, looked straight at Pit with sad sorry look in his eyes, "You're upset cause no one know who you are..."

Pit froze, and not just because it was freezing cold. Was it that obvious?

The pink climber, Nana, looked straight at Pit with tears in her eyes, "Oh no! Popo, I think you're right! He's probably devastated right now! Heartbroken!"

It wasn't long before both Ice Climbers were crying their eyes out over Pit's situation that he never admitted was true. Were they making fun of him? Was that it? Why would they care so much about him anyway they've never even meet before!

Pit's feathers ruffled up. They must be messing with him.

"That's not it at all!" he yelled, much louder than he had meant to.

"Ah." Popo said with a neutral expression

"Okay." Nana said with a smile.

That...That was much easier than Pit had thought it would be. They were a weird pair that's for sure.

The Ice Climbers starred at him for a long time. It started to get very awkward. Whenever Pit tried to walk away to leave the unblinking eyes of the pair would follow him no matter which direction he would try to go, at least he was pretty sure they weren't blinking.

It was cold. He was distracted.

Finally, Pit had enough of staring at their beady eyes. "Can you guys just please leave me alone!" he pleaded to the pair of expressionless faces. He had come here to be alone and now he couldn't even do that!

The climbers looked at something else for once-each other. Then they smiled.

"We know you don't wanna be alone." Popo said. He looked the shivering Angel and held his hands together.

"All you want is for someone to call you by your name, right?" Nana said. She held her hands together and smiled at the Angel.

They spoke again, this time their hands were united and they spoke in unison, "You want someone to know who you are and where you're from! That's it! You want to show everyone that you're meant to be here! That's all you want!"

Pit resisted every urge to fall on his knees in disbelief, they were all still standing on ice after all. "H-How do...?" they had gotten his feelings exactly right! Even when he couldn't quite put it into words himself.

"We were in the same boat last tournament!" Popo shrugged. It wasn't a nice thing to remember. the Melee tournament had already been a whole six years ago, but Popo could still recall the day he and Nana had received their invitations. A lone envelop had flown straight into their path on one of their climbs causing Popo to slip and almost fall off the mountain. Thankfully Nana was there to catch him as well as the envelope.

"Nobody but Mario knew who we were!" Nana laughed. In retrospect it was funny to her. The first day they had arrived none of the fighters, save for Mario, offered them more than a quick glance. Popo and Nana had attributed it down to just being much **MUCH** shorter than the other fighters. But the whispers among the other fighters asking who the _'weirdos in the coats'_ were weren't as easy to write off.

"Wow! That's the exact same thing that happened to me!" and for the first time since arriving at the tournament, Pit laughed. Then coughed. Loudly.

He wanted to apologize for coughing without covering his mouth, but he found himself unable to speak. All Pit found himself able to do was cough, he had entered a coughing fit. A rather violent one by the sound of it. It was getting dark. And significantly colder.

"Oh no!" Popo danced in place in a panic.

"We can't have you getting sick on the first day!" Nana danced in place in a frenzy.

Then in an instant Pit suddenly found himself feeling much heavier than before and much...warmer?

He looked up to look at the top of his head, where he felt the most weight. Any rational person would tell you that you can't do that and well, yeah, you can't. But that wasn't going to stop Pit from trying.

"It's me! Popo!" Popo pat the top of Pit's head to let him know he was up there. He was careful not to touch Pit's odd golden crown, it looked important.

"And I'm over here!" Nana tapped Pit's left shoulder to let him know she was there. Pit turned his head to see her, she smiled and waved at him.

Initial confusion aside, Pit only had one question "What are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" It wasn't.

"We're keeping you warm!" They were?

Pit didn't know how they were doing it but whatever the Ice Climbers had done had somehow worked. He wasn't coughing anymore and his shivering had all but disappeared. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't still a little cold though.

"You see, one time me and Nana got stuck in a blizzard!" it was one of their earlier climbs. This was normally a story they wouldn't be telling because it would threaten their perfect ice climbing reputation, but they'd make an exception for Pit.

"So me and Popo had to huddle together to stay warm!" they both had the same idea and they were both surprised it had worked. They hoped that Pit would be honored that they would pass on such archaic knowledge to someone like him, but he was just happy to be warm...er.

"Wow! Thanks!" it felt like a warm hug, even warmer with how fluffy their coats were.

When the Ice Climbers didn't climb off that's when Pit got worried, "Um-Are you gonna get off now?"

"Not until you get somewhere warmer!" Popo kicked his feet behind Pit's back.

"We can't leave you alone in the cold!" Nana switched from Pit's left shoulder to his right.

"Uh-huh." Pit remained still, unsure of where exactly where to go. He held his hands together nervously before finally working up the nerve to ask, "Well, where should I go? I know I lied about getting lost, but I really don't know my way around here yet."

A rather strong and cold breeze blew through the tundra, almost knocking Pit off his feet. It was a cold and dangerous reminder of just how much he didn't want to stay here.

"Don't worry about it son!" Popo gave Pit a thumbs up. Though it was literally impossible for Pit to see it from where he stood, still it's the thought that counts.

"We'll tell you where to go!" Nana pointed in a vague direction. Pit didn't know it, but Nana was pointing to where Pit had come from.

The welcoming party still hadn't ended and with them now at Pit's side they were going to make sure people knew who he was. "Right! Let's go!" no matter where he was Pit was always eager to follow the advice given to him by people he absolutely trusted.

Then again, he had just met these two.

Pit jumped and slid off the icy mountain, to the surprise of both Ice Climbers. Pit's sudden action had them clinging on to him as if their lives depended on it. Sure, they had grabbed on and ridden a bird before but that was entirely different than holding onto a excited Angel. They were maybe beginning to regret their choices.

"That's right!" Pit reached the bottom of the slide and stopped. "I never thanked you guys for sticking with me! Even when I yelled at you!" an Angel should never lose their temper, that was rule number 3 of the Angel's Code of Conduct! "I just wanted to say, thank you!" Pit's wings happily flapped behind him, unintentionally hitting Nana in the back of her head.

"I-It's no problem!" Popo was admittedly still a little shaken from Pit's sudden trick.

"Y-Yeah don't worry about it!" Nana was a little less nervous but she still found herself holding on tighter than before.

Pit went back to walking normally, so they were able to regain their footing. The Ice Climbers spoke in unison once again, "After all, we obscure picks gotta stay together! Don't you think so Pit?"

* * *

**-doll judgement-**

Samus walked down the hall of Player 3's on her way to her next match. Before she could enter the arena however, a curious obstacle stood in her way. It laid on the floor and was vaguely shaped like a person would be if they were laying on the ground. If that person were about the size of a small doll.

"What's this?"

Samus activated her scanner and analyzed the mysterious object.

_**'Hand-Made Doll'**_

_**"Identified: Small object made of cheap common materials such as cloth, wool, and thread. This particular Doll was made in the image of Samus Aran." **_

"What's something like this doing here?" Samus bent down to pick the doll up to get a closer look at it. Bringing it up to her visor let her see that it wasn't just in the shape of her, it was in the shape of her new look, Zero Suit Samus. Whoever had made it was very careful in making it look just right. They'd even gotten some of the smaller details of her Zero Suit right.

Other parts of her outfit were a little bit inaccurate but a little artistic liberty never hurt anyone, right?

"Oh no! No! No!"

Samus with the doll still in her hand turned to where the shrill yelling was coming from. No one else was supposed to be in the corridor so whoever it must have be must clearly be lost. As she expected, it was a Newcomer who came running.

"S-Samus?!" Pit, finally in view quickly stepped back and shriveled back into his wings. To say he was nervous being in front of Samus Aran: Legendary Space Bounty Hunter was a massive understatement. Especially under these specific circumstances.

"Are you lost? You're really not supposed to be here." Samus looked down at the small Angel and couldn't help but notice he was desperately trying to keep his hands behind his back. There was no reason to not trust Pit, from what Samus had seen he seemed like a nice kid but there was something off about this entire situation.

"I-um...Well..." whatever Pit wanted to say to her was not intelligible. Words were definitely coming out of his mouth but when most of them consisted of 'Um' and 'Err' it was hard for Samus to get a good read of what Pit's intentions were. Pit also refused to make eye contact, instead his eyes drifted from the floor to the doll that Samus was holding in her hand.

Then everything clicked into place, like a puzzle finally being solved.

"Ah." she held out the doll towards him, Pit yelped and took a quick step back. "I take it this is yours?"

**"No!"** this time it was Samus' turn to be taken aback. Hearing Pit raise his voice in that way was certainly something not every fighter had heard. "W-Why would **that** be mine?! I mean it's not like I'm here to look for it or anything! I'm just here tooooo..." his voice trailed off, he still hadn't thought of a good excuse.

A loud alarm rang through the halls. "Shoot." Samus knew that alarm well. It was the alarm that rang to warn straggling fighters that the match would soon start. Whether they were present or not. Which meant that if Samus didn't enter the arena in the next few minutes or so, she would lose by default.

"What's that for? Is there something wrong?!" Pit, being a newcomer, had not been in enough matches to even have the slightest clue what was going on. "It means I don't have time for your fake excuses Pit." if Pit thought Samus was intimidating before, well he hadn't seen anything yet, "That alarm means I'm late for my match and if you don't say that this belongs to you I'll be forced to take it to lost and found."

Pit gasped, "No!"

"Yes! The lost and found that Master Hand runs."

"You mean the one where he goes up and just asks everyone if something belongs to them?!"

"The very same."

The idea of every fighter in the roster potentially seeing his handiwork sent shivers down Pit's spine and wings. If they saw what he did that would ruin his chance of being friends with him for sure! No one, absolutely **no one** would think he was cool and tough after that!

"Pit?"

"Okay! Okay! Okay! Fine, its mine! I made it! I'm sorry Samus, please don't be mad!"

"Why would I be-" before Samus could ask why in the world she would be mad about such a simple thing, Pit cut her off. "B-Because...!" this time Pit stopped himself. he looked down, refusing to look at Samus. "Because I thought you'd be mad at how bad it looks..."

Samus raised a curious eyebrow, why in the world would Pit think she would be mad about that? Though there was no denying she did emit a certain sort of 'no nonsense' aura to people she hadn't meet before. Maybe Pit just thought she was the angry sort of person. And she was, _on occasion_. But she wasn't about to lose her temper over a child being a fan of her.

"Well Pit-" she held the doll closer to her to get a better view, "I won't say its perfect." Pit shrunk into himself and prepared for the worst.

"But it's not bad."

"Huh?"

"You got my hair right. My Zero Suit is the right color. Hey, you even got my eye color right. Like I said, it's not bad. Keep making them and I'm sure the next one will look even better."

Pit was silent. He'd received compliments on his work before but they had all been from Great Palutena. Granted, this was the first time in years he'd talked about his projects to someone other than her or the Centurions.

"You...You really think it's good?"

"Don't make me repeat myself. They're good, and if anyone else tells you otherwise just bring them my way."

After a few tense seconds Pit's wings begin to flap and he flashed a big grin and held his arms up in the air in excitement, finally letting Samus see what he had been hiding behind his back the entire time. Three more pieces of his work scattered through the hall. Handmade Mario, Olimar, and Kirby stuffed dolls dropped to the floor, but Pit couldn't have cared less.

"Wow! Samus-THE SAMUS ARAN LIKES MY STUFF! I CAN'T WAIT TO TELL GREAT PALUTENA ABOUT THIS! I BET SHE S GONNA BE SOOOOO JEALOUS!"

Samus stared at the young angel spinning and laughing around in front of her. She let out a small laugh, she still didn't know this new fighter all that well, but she could tell that his positive energy was infectious. But the good kind of infectious. The kind that almost made Samus feel like joining in his celebration. Maybe it was an Angel thing. Whatever that was.

A second alarm blared through the hall again, bringing Pit's excitement to an abrupt end.

"Oh no! Samus your match! You better get going!"

_'About time'_ Samus thought, she had kept her opponents waiting long enough. "Here." she tossed the doll that shared her likeness over to Pit, who caught it perfectly after almost dropping it twice. Samus turned to walk to her match but turned to Pit one last time.

"If you haven't made one of me in my Varia Suit I'd like to help. If you don't mind."

"O-Of course not! I-uh mean I don't mind, is what I mean! I mean-yeah you can help!"

Samus laughed, and with a final salute she ran off to join the free-for-all.

* * *

**-right back at you!-**

"Again! Let's go again!"

Kirby collapsed onto the ground, completely exhausted. They and Pit had been flying around for almost up to two hours now. Kirby just didn't have the heart in them to deny his insistent requests to fly them around, especially when they found out why Pit was so happy being in the air.

During the tenth flight as Pit dangled from Kirby's feet his shouts of joy and glee suddenly stopped. Kirby looked down in a panic, Pit hadn't let go had he?! Thankfully Pit was still holding on tight, he'd just gone quiet for some reason.

"Hey Kirby, I know we just meet but thanks for doing this for me."

Kirby couldn't exactly say anything back. Their mouth was too busy being closed, their breath held for as long as the puffball could manage. That was the only thing keeping the pair afloat. for now.

They made a mental note to say 'You're welcome' to Pit once they hit the ground though.

In the middle of the silence of everything but the breeze blowing past and the cool ocean waves, Pit spoke up once again. "I know this is gonna sound funny but..." Pit's voiced trailed off as he flapped his wings sadly.

"My wings don't really work for flying. They never have."

"Poy-what?" And just like that Pit and Kirby found themselves hitting the ground for the tenth time that day.

There was no time for Kirby to rest or collect their bearings because as soon as Pit hit the ground, he was right back on his feet asking to go again! This weird winged human had more energy than Kirby themselves. Maybe Kirby was just hungry. It had been a full twenty minutes since they had last eaten after all. They were starving!

After the fifteenth fall Kirby had had enough. Just as they expected Pit ran up and asked to go again. This time however Kirby crossed his arms and looked away, their checks puffed up in clear defiance. "Huh?" a wave a realization washed over Pit. He stared at the horizon and saw the setting sun, it was then he was finally aware of just how much time had passed since he first meet up with Kirby that noon.

"Oh my gosh! Kirby, I am so sorry! I didn't mean- I just-" Pit tripped over all the words in his apology. Finally, he was able to find his footing, "I'm sorry for making you fly me around all day! Really I am!"

Kirby let their guard down and turned back to the Angel. He was kneeling on the ground begging for Kirby's forgiveness, which yeah, of course Kirby was going to forgive him. They were just a little grumpy. "Poy-okay! Stand up!" he moved his small stubby arms in an upward motion, signaling to Pit that he didn't need to do...whatever it was he was doing right now.

Pit quickly sprang up, "Whatever you say Kirby!"

"Po-you okay?" their new friend was acting awfully weird. Kirby was getting kinda worried about him.

"I've never been better Kirby! Please don't hate me or think I'm weird or anything ha **ha**!" Pit stood perfectly still after that. Kirby couldn't even tell if he was breathing. They knew some of their friends needed to do that, but they had no idea if Pit fell into that category. "Pit-yo! Kirby-"

"Kirby said my naaaame!"

This was the 23rd time Kirby had called Pit by his name, but it seemed the novelty hadn't worn off by now.

Then Pit forgot all his past reservations and scooped up the small Star Warrior in a big hug. "I like you too Kirby!" he yelled hugging Kirby tightly and swaying them from side to side. Kirby couldn't help but get caught in the celebration, their new friend was just fine!

It was just like Meta Knight had said; During the new tournament Kirby was going to meet all sorts of new and different people,

'_Some you will vibe with right away and some will take time. -acoustic guitar sound-' _

...Yeah okay those weren't his exact words, but they were close enough. To Kirby, Pit felt like one of the ones they immediately clicked with. Maybe it was their love of food?

"Poyo! Poyo!" Kirby laughed, hugging him back. Feeling Kirby hug him back only made Pit happier. In addition to spinning in place he added to occasional leap into the air. Pit continued to twirl in place until he got dizzy.

They both fell to the ground for the sixteenth time that day, though not from as high as before. The pair of allies looked at each other and started laughing all over again, it didn't matter if they were covered in grass stains, they were having fun!

Maybe. Maybe Kirby had enough energy for one more flight session.

* * *

**-bad apple-**

Pit decided early on that he didn't much care for his 'Fallen Angel' costume.

Not only was black clearly not his color, the idea that he would ever fall from Skyworld seemed too ridiculous for him to even humor the idea.

He wasn't that type of Angel! Breaking the rules enough to get kicked out of his own home was too scary to even think about, and it's not like he always followed the rules. One time he stayed up past his bedtime and Palutena scolded him for well over a half an hour!

He scowled at the memory. He still couldn't believe he got caught, how annoying. And that rule was one of the more important rules. He couldn't imagine what kind of rule he would have to break to get booted out for real.

He looked into the mirror in front of him and lightly flapped his wings. Those dark wings really didn't suit him at all.

* * *

**-hey all the meaningful plants, we wont last very long-**

"What was that?!"

Everything had happened so fast.

Pit had been watching a match between the Hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and the Legendary Star Warrior, Kirby. The battle was so intense and exciting Pit was having trouble deciding who to root for! Both the contestants were gaming icons how in the world could he be expected to choose between them?! So, he didn't, and was just excited to see who would come out on top.

Then as soon as the match ended it all went wrong.

A dark cloud spread over the stadium, obstructing Pit's view of the events that happened next.

"Hey what gives!?" Pit shook the fountain in place. Was the signal buggy? The Old Fountain of Seeing _was_ getting old, maybe it was finally time for Palutena to get a replacement?

After what felt like an eternity of staring at complete darkness Pit could vaguely see the image of the stadium again. He saw the Warp Star take off flying from the stadium as top speed. Kirby was on it along with...somebody else? It was hard to see clearly and Pit couldn't tell if it was Peach or Zelda. In another installment of a series of split-second events, the stadium suddenly exploded. It wasn't a normal explosion there was something frighteningly different about it. Instead of fire and smoke there was only darkness. It overtook the entire stadium until there was nothing but the mysterious space like substance left.

Pit could only pray everyone got out in time.

"Pit!"

Palutena's voice snapped Pit out of his trance. "Y-Yes Great Palutena?" he asked, running over to kneel in front of her. "Is there something you need? Palutena shook her head, "Am I right to assume you saw what happened down there?" So Great Palutena knew about the explosion! "You saw it too? Do you know what happened?!" Pit knew Palutena had her own All-Seeing Eye so maybe she had seen more of what happened than he had.

"No Pit. I don't." well there goes that.

The Angel, still kneeling, sulked sadly. If even Great Palutena didn't see what it was that caused that explosion what were the chances that the fighters on the surface could see their enemy? Would Mario and Kirby stand a chance?

"Which is why you're going down to find out exactly what's going on!"

Pit's head shot up, staring at Palutena in disbelief. "Sorry Great Palutena I could have sworn you said I would go down there and...help?" he hadn't been to the surface in literal years. He'd lost count around fifteen. Palutena smiled and held out her hand, a small orb of light appeared and floated towards Pit.

Pit, too fixated on the ball of light, simply allowed it to come closer until it stopped just in front of him. "Go ahead." Pit followed Palutena's instructions and slowly reached his hand towards the orb. The light expanded into a strange new bow Pit had never seen before. It fell perfectly into his hands and two small rings appeared around his arm.

"May I present your new weapon! The Palutena Bow!"

"New...weapon?" Pit examined the weapon closely. Unlike his old weapon this one wasn't wooden, instead it looked like it was made of solid gold! It looked so elegant and fancy Pit was afraid he would break it right away, but if Great Palutena trusted Pit with this new weapon he would make sure to be extra careful with it.

"I would have liked for you to have more time to get acquainted with it but we're short on time. It's a good thing they say experience is the best teacher!"

Pit looked around the room, "Who says that?"

"You know! They!"

Palutena pulled her arm back and then in a very dramatic and cool way extended it forwards, pointing Pit towards the temple doors that lead outside.

"Now, go Pit!"

Pit nodded, "I won't let you down Great Palutena!" He took off running, excited to finally be back in action and helping Mario and Kirby no less. With his new look and his new weapon, they were sure to impressed at how much he'd grown up. Pit looked at his weapon one last time, taking note of the almost jewel like streaks of blue that ran along the golden bow.

He really _really_ hoped he wouldn't break them.

With one last look at Great Palutena he spread his wings out and prepared to drop.

* * *

**-puppit-**

Pit and Mario had been fighting some pretty strange enemies, even by Underworld standards. Tiny colorful people, a weird snail thing that laughed a lot, green tin soldiers, and even storm clouds! But there was one enemy that just rubbed Pit the wrong way. The enemy that shared a part of his name.

When Pit first saw one, he was scared stiff when it suddenly came down from the sky. It was suspended in the air by only a few strings and had one evil looking eye. After defeating a few he turned and politely asked Mario what those were. He had no idea what they were either, much like the rest of the enemies they encountered.

It was only after the Subspace incident and after asking other fighters he found out they were called _**'Puppits.'**_

The name sounded like someone was insulting him.

* * *

**-just jump up, kick back, whip around and spin! -**

Pit still couldn't believe it. He was working together with Mario. THE MARIO MARIO.

And he was **BLOWING IT! **

An accident with a moving platform had put a quick end to Pit's expedition through the caves. That left only Mario to trek through the rest of the level, by himself. And Pit had fallen quite early on.

Now all he could do was quietly sit on the sidelines and watch, still thinking about how much of an embarrassment he made of himself in front of one of his heroes.

He could only hope Great Palutena wasn't watching.

* * *

**-i just wonder what lady palutena is up to!-**

Palutena bit her thumb, this time much harder than before.

From up in Skyworld she was able to use Pit's same method he used to watch fights to keep an eye on him. So far Palutena had not liked what she had seen.

Pit's new adventure had started out well enough. When he teamed up with Mario, she could tell he was trying his hardest to not break his cool and spontaneously ask Mario for his autograph. This was a serious manner and there would be time for fanboying later.

Then came Pit's falls. His many many manymanymany falls.

Pit hadn't seen action in so many years, he was bound to be a bit rusty. That was one of Palutena's biggest worries when she first sent him out to help, but she hoped that after a while everything would click into place. But after getting crushed by a moving platform, thrown out of a mine cart, and falling down a hole at 20% it was clear she was wrong.

Pit was in for a very rough time.

"Come on Pit..." the Goddess was close to drawing blood by how hard she was biting down on her thumb. The reason she was so nervous was because the mysterious Subspace Army had set off another batch of Subspace Bombs to go off. Pit's team was trying their hardest to detach the R.O.B's from the bomb, to no success.

Time was running out and all Palutena wanted to do was bring Pit back home. Back to her side. Deep down she knew she couldn't do that, the world needed Pit's help.

But...did it really? Surely there were enough capable fighters to handle the situation without her Angels help. There was Mario, Link, Samus, even Kirby themselves. Those four would be able to save the world by themselves, and even then there were still more fighters out there to help!

Palutena's hand hovered over her staff. All it would take is one word and Pit would be safe. She'd finally be able to save _him_, to protect _him_. Unlike his other two adventures, when she couldn't help and when she shouldn't help.

However, something in her told her to look back at her fountain. The Subspace Bombs had gone off, but Pit and his allies had escaped unharmed. "How?" she hadn't noticed but Pit must have had helped from the other fighters. There was no way he could have escaped that fast enough on his own.

_'All the more reason to bring him back!' _

Palutena finally grabbed her staff, her gaze remained fixated on the fountain, and Pit. That's when she noticed it. How Pit interacted with his teammates. He, along with Kirby and Yoshi, tried their best to cheer up the clearly tired Link and Mario, and though neither of them were even close to giving up Palutena could tell both Link and Mario appreciated their efforts.

The team walked forward. Pit was left behind as he talked Kirby and Yoshi's hypothetical ears off. In the front of the group Palutena could hear Mario talking to Link about how much Pit had improved in fighting since they had first meet up, he even suggested to Link they should team up in the next 'level'.

She couldn't take him away from them. Not now.

Pit was a fighter. This was what he was supposed to do. Palutena hadn't made him Captain of the Guard for nothing but a part of her always questioned if she could go through with making him do what that position entailed. Standing outside her throne room guarding her was completely different than preparing to fight an army.

It was clear to her now that she would have to overcome several hurdles if she ever going to help Pit out in the field. Trying not to worry about his wellbeing every few seconds would be a good start. Even if she couldn't help Pit directly this time next time would be different! Well, if there even was a next time.

Palutena relaxed and teleported her staff away. She wouldn't be needing it anytime soon.

...

But as the group went over their steps of their next plan Palutena couldn't help but remember Medusa's attack on Skyworld. When Pit was left alone to fight his way back home from the deepest parts of the Underworld. She had only been able to speak to him in his cell right before his adventure began to grant him his weapon, much like the start of this one.

The next time Palutena saw him he looked like a completely different angel. Palutena felt that whatever he had gone through hadn't been easy. Pit's struggle was enough to teach the young Angel to fend for himself. All of this formed one lingering question that haunted Palutena up until she lost visual contact with Pit he entered Subspace.

Would Pit be the same Angel once he returned to Skyworld?

* * *

**-i...don't know anything about F zero-**

Step

Step

Step

Every step Pit took echoed through the metallic halls of the Halberd. The huge ship was like nothing Pit had ever seen before. The entire Halberd was made of a thing that felt just like his new weapon and the way it effortlessly flew through the air was unreal. The thought that Great Palutena had help make Meta Knight's ship crossed his mind once or twice, but he never thought about it long enough to entertain the idea.

Pit had been roaming the Halberd by himself for the past-

Actually, he had no idea how long it had been now.

What he did know was that a lot, if not most, of the fighters were in the control room discussing their new plan on how to take down Ganondorf and Bowser. Pit had been there too, at first.

Until Peach politely asked him to go find Captain Olimar for her.

After walking for what felt like hours, he started to feel like Peach just wanted an easy excuse to get him out of the room. _'Why wouldn't she just tell me to leave?'_ he took another loud step, _'Why did she want me to leave?'_

Oh no. Did Mario tell her about the time Pit stepped on his face?! He hadn't meant to! It was a simple mistake anyone could have made at the time! It was a moment a weakness! It was-

**BEEP**

Pit's panicked inner monologue was interrupted by a sudden loud noise coming from the room beside him. He knew there were a lot of different fighters on the ship, but he had no idea which one would be capable of making that kind of sound. Not to mention they sounded...so sad making it.

Curiosity got the better of him and he walked as quietly as he could on the loud metal floor to see who was inside. Which is to say he wasn't quiet at all.

He peeked his head through the slightly opened metal door and his eyes meet those of a fighter Pit had only seen face-to-face once, maybe twice. He was small, smaller than even the younger fighters (himself included). There was a sort of bubble surrounding his head and on the top of the bubble was a shiny red light that illuminated the dark room he was standing in.

Yup, there was no mistaking it this was Captain Olimar. Mission Accomplished.

While Pit studied Olimar in great detail the Captain did the same. He had heard Pit's very loud footsteps down the hall and anticipated that he wouldn't be able to resist peeking inside the room making mysterious robot noises. Kids would be kids after all, no matter what planet he was on. As Olimar expected, Pit's next move was to quickly try to hide himself behind the door and pretend he was never there. A method that rarely worked for his own kids, so it was definitely not going to work for Pit. Especially with his wings sticking out from behind the door like a sore thumb.

Olimar sighed into his helmet, because of his ship's rough reentry the audio circuits in his suit had malfunction and stopped working entirely. Which meant he had no way to communicate with anyone he met save for the occasional wild hand gesture and visual cue.

Which also meant he had to get creative when he wanted to say what was on his mind.

Olimar made his way over to where Pit was still cowering behind a door, his eyes shut tight and praying to Palutena that the small space captain hadn't seen him. His hopes were dashed away when Pit opened his eyes slightly to see Olimar staring right at him. "ACK?!" Pit quickly jumped away, afraid of whatever consequence awaited him for interrupting Olimar's-

Wait what was Olimar doing in there?

"Um-sorry about that. I'll just be going now!" Pit nervously waved his hand, "You just keep doing w-whatever it was you were doing!"

Before Pit could even get a leg up to run away as fast as he could there was a loud and piercing noise ringing in his ears. He knew that sound very well by now, it was the sound of Olimar's whistle. He also used that whistle to command his Pikmin around. Pit looked around, _'Weird. There's not any Pikmin. Why'd he whistle?' _But the weirdest part was that the sound of the whistle had managed to stop Pit in his tracks.

Mostly out of confusion.

Things only got more confusing when Olimar pulled on Pit's hand, leading him back into the room Olimar had been standing in a few seconds ago. Pit went with the flow and let himself be pulled away from his escape attempt. It was the least he could do for spying on the poor guy.

Back in the room Olimar whistled again, but not as loud as he had when he wanted to catch Pit's attention. The room was dark only illuminated by Olimar's small light and another brighter red light that was in the corner of the room. Pit didn't know how he missed it at first but hidden away in the corner of the room was a dark figure. In the darkness it was impossible for him to see who they were, but there was one big thing about them that was clear to him.

The pair of glowing eyes staring right him were all too familiar. Pit knew belonged to a certain person. The person who had been responsible for setting off countless of Subspace Bombs around their world.

Pit tensed up as Olimar, still holding on to his hand, started walking them both closer to the Ancient Minister.

"What are you doing?!" Pit forcibly yanked his hand away from the captain and held it close to his chest. Olimar looked at him with his large surprised eyes, Pit's sudden action truly caught him off guard. "That's who I think it is right-?!" Pit wasn't going to wait for Olimar to answer (even if he actually couldn't.)"That's the Ancient Minister! That's the guy who's been helping Ganondorf blow up everything!"

And now he was in the Halberd?! "How did they even get here?!" Pit gasped, the Ancient Minister must have snuck in when nobody was looking, and now that he was in here he was going to activate a Subspace Bomb while everyone was busy planning their assault on Ganondorf! "I gotta warn everyone!" Pit turned to run out of the room. Olimar thought fast and quickly grabbed on to the skirt of his tunic and pulled him back, knocking Pit onto the ground.

"H-Hey! That hurt!"

Olimar hadn't meant to hurt Pit, only to stop him. To say he felt terrible wouldn't be enough, he felt awful. Pit sat on the ground inspecting his new tunic for any tears while Olimar hovered over him like a doting parent. The space captain grabbed his arms and inspected it for any bruises or cuts, doing the same for the other arm and even Pit's wings.

"Um...I'm fine if that's what you're asking?" Pit stood up and flapped his wings to show Olimar that he was perfectly unharmed.

Olimar's mouth moved as if he were saying something, which he probably was but to Pit he was as silent as ever. He gestured his hand for Pit to move down closer to him. Pit wasn't sure how he understood that, but he bent down and meet Olimar at eye level. Only for Olimar to give him a small pat on the head. Pit blushed and Olimar smiled, he was glad Pit was okay.

"Woah! That was a pretty rough spill! You okay there?"

In an instant of a second Pit saw Olimar's smile turn into a rather large scowl. It seemed whoever that was wasn't someone that Olimar held in high regards.

Pit looked up to see Captain Falcon standing in the doorway.

"Captain Falcon?!" Pit was practically seeing stars. Captain Falcon was one of the original Super Smash Bros. fighters and here he was standing right in front of him! Sure, he had already meet Mario, Link, Luigi, Samus, Pikachu, Ness, Yoshi and Kirby (to name a few) but unlike them Captain Falcon had a super cool punch!

Olimar meanwhile was less than impressed.

"Come on buddy! We all gave you one job and look-!" Captain Falcon effortlessly picked up Pit by his scarf and held him up, a dumb grin was plastered all over the Angel's face,"-you already let someone see our surprise?" Olimar said nothing in response.

"Hi I'm Pit! I'm a big fan!" Pit yelled out, still dangling from his scarf he kicked his legs excitedly in the air. "Oh right!" Captain Falcon gently set Pit down, making sure not to ruffle his feathers in the process. Pit was still starstruck even now that he was on the ground. Olimar slowly shook his head in disappointment. How anyone could be impressed by that man was beyond his understanding.

"Right! Now that you're here I guess we have to let you in on the surprise!"

"Surprise?! What kind of surprise?!"

Captain Falcon chuckled, "This surprise of course!" he said pointing his finger to somewhere. Pit followed his pointing finger back to the darkly lit corner of the room where Ancient Minister was patiently and quietly watching everything unfold. "The Ancient Minster is the surprise?!" Pit steeped back in shock.

Captain Falcon shook his head, disappointed but not surprised. "Pit. Pit. Pit. That's not the Ancient Minster-"

Olimar blew his whistle loudly.

Captain falcon covered his helmet covered ears, "...Okay yeah it is him."

Pit screamed and attempted to run away again. This time he was stopped by Captain Falcon slamming the door shut in front of him, which only made him scream louder.

"Hey! Calm down kid! Let's just-Okay. You're still screaming. Alright."

Eventually Olimar stepped in and tried to calm Pit down. Unfortunately, the same method he used for his own kids wouldn't work for Pit, he was much MUCH taller than Olimar's own children. Not being able to speak with him didn't help much either. Olimar tried his best, getting Pit's attention by tapping on his leg. Pit stopped screaming switching instead to breathing heavily. He was tired of yelling. Olimar took Pit's hand again, slowly swinging it in time with his breathing. Pit didn't know why but whatever Olimar was doing was actually helping, or at least distracting him from the scary villain sitting in the corner just a few feet away.

Thanks to Olimar's help Pit was more willing to listen to Captain Falcon's explanation. He'd be lying if he still wasn't a little nervous though. He decided to stand a little closer to Olimar and to the space captain's surprise Pit grabbed hold of his antenna. It was probably easier than grabbing his hand.

"The truth is their name is Robotic Operating Buddy. R.O.B for short and Ancient Minister for long. You still following me?"

Pit nodded, he was still shaking nervously but Olimar's support was helping him stay calm enough to listen.

"And! We're gonna bring him up to the meeting room after they wrap things up!" Captain Falcon gently tapped the roof of Olimar's helmet. "Isn't that right Olimar?"

Olimar, taking Pit with him, quickly stepped away from the enthusiastic racer. His arms were crossed.

"You...You didn't take him prisoner, did you?"

Regardless of Pit's opinion on the Ancient Minister he knew what it was like to be taken prisoner by the enemy. It was a terrifying and nightmare inducing. It was something he would rather never experience again. He wouldn't wish it even on his worst enemies. Mmmmm...probably.

"Never!"

Olimar let out a soft whistle in denial of Pit's claims.

"Then wha-?"

"He's here to help the team!" Captain Falcon boldly claimed.

"Heh?" before Pit could get even more confused Olimar whistled a short quick 'bweeep~' to try and tell Pit to let Captain Falcon explain the situation. While it hadn't exactly worked out like he planned, Pit was more surprised into silence than understating of Olimar's plan, Olimar appreciated it nonetheless.

Captain Falcon went over the events of the last few hours, "It all started back on this weird base that me, Olimar-"

Olimar steeped away to the left, furthering his distance from the Pikmin murderer.

Despite Olimar's odd behavior the story continued, "-,Samus, Pikachu, Donkey Kong and his pal Diddy Kong infiltrated. Turns out the base was where they were keeping all of the Subspace Bombs!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

Pit sat down on the floor of the ship, now fully invested hearing about the heroics of Captain Falcon and his team. Olimar shook his head in disappointment.

"Then Ganondorf appeared! ...In hologram form."

Pit gasped, his wings shivered in fear at the name of the Lord of Darkness. The guy was basically pure evil reincarnated who wouldn't be afraid of him?

"After that, Bam! Bam! Bam! The Subspace Bombs were activated everywhere! All because Ganondorf took control of all the other R-!" Captain Falcon suddenly stopped the story in its tracks. Both he and Olimar glanced back at R.O.B who looked to be intently listening to Captain Falcon's retelling as much as Pit was. "Uh...yeah, you know what happens when a Subspace Bomb is activated right?" Captain Falcon nervously asked, hoping that the answer would be 'Yes' to save him from describing the next agonizing few minutes.

Pit nervously looked away, he'd seen first-hand how devastating activating one of those horrible things was. "Yeah." he answered quietly.

"Phew! Alright then moving on!"

Olimar sighed into his whistle, producing a long tired tone.

"If that wasn't bad enough R.O.B tried to get them to stop but thanks to Ganondorf 's control they attacked him and even set him on fire! It was...pretty messed up." for lack of a better term. For once Olimar agreed with his fellow captain, offering a slow whistle of understanding.

R.O.B sulked in the corner, most likely as a result of their own failures being retold right in front them. "Then after all that R.O.B told us they wanted to help us defeat Ganondorf and Bowser! So, we brought him with us!" Captain Falcon failed to mention that the way R.O.B communicated this wish to them was by drawing an impressive drawing of Ganondorf on the ground of the cliffs and then immediately shooting it with a laser.

"That's why they're here! We haven't brought it up with the rest of the team but that's what the surprise is for!" the plan was to introduce R.O.B right after the plan to take on Ganondorf had been made. Olimar had objected the plan on the grounds that would mean that R.O.B wouldn't be included in the plan, but because of his lack of communication he wasn't able to voice his concerns before Samus, Pikachu, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong all agreed with Captain Falcon's plan.

"Don't worry I get it." Pit sulked down and lowered his head. Only Olimar noticed his change in body language.

"Phew! That's good!" Captain Falcon wiped the sweat off his wait...Okay. Captain Falcon sighed in relief, "If you get it then there's no way the rest of the team can say no, right?"

Pit slowly nodded, "Everyone's really nice. I think you guys are worried too much."

"MAYBE SO."

Behind the three of them R.O.B happily let out a series of beeps and boops and for the first time since arriving, they moved. They wheeled over to where Pit was still sitting rudely pushing themselves past the two captains. To the surprise of all three of them Pit didn't so much as flinch. "It's nice to meet you R.O.B. I'm Pit. I'm really sorry about before..." he held his hand out to shake R.O.B's...claw hand? When that was clearly not going to work Pit simply grabbed R.O.B's claw and moved his hand up and down. The robot spun their head backwards to look at the captains behind him and let out another series of high-pitched beeps.

"Yeah fine! Maybe we were a little paranoid but blame Samus not me!"

For the record Olimar blamed Captain Falcon.

"Still, can you believe it pal?" Captain Falcon whispered to his new friend and fellow captain. Olimar rolled his eyes, when would this guy get the message and stop talking to him? "Could you imagine having your entire species wiped out-" he snapped his fingers, "-just like that. I gotta say I don't think I could-"

"I can."

Captain Falcon and Captain Olimar stared at each other in what could only be described as 'very nervous and very worried smiles'. "O-Oh-uh I didn't know that. Ha. Small world." he said quickly laughing the tragic coincidence off. "Why didn't you tell me he could hear me?!"

Olimar shrugged.

Even if Pit didn't relate with R.O.B in being the last of their respective kind, he would have still felt sympathy for the poor robot. Part of him wished that he had been there along with Captain Falcon and Olimar. Maybe he could have something to stop Ganondorf, but if the combined powers of Captain Falcon, Olimar, and the rest of their team that I'm tired of listing couldn't save the other Robots then there was probably very little Pit could have done change to outcome.

If he couldn't help R.O.B back then, Pit decided he would help them now. That was just the way he was. If Palutena were here she would have been proud.

"I really am sorry about not trusting you. I hope we can be friends even after all that."

R.O.B slowly nodded their head and quickly spun in place. They let out another series of beeps, happy to have another friend.

Pit smiled and tried to do the same thing but got dizzy and fell over. Again.

Then an alarm sounded.

* * *

**-tabuu tears you up-**

Pit sat on the cold ground of Subspace, surrounded by his fellow fighters. His friends.

The dark void of Subspace was a far cry from his home back in Skyworld, to say he was homesick would be no exaggeration. It felt selfish to say, but he hoped that there were others that felt the same way.

At least then he would have someone to talk to.

But everyone else was too busy worrying about how Mario, Olimar, Kirby, Peach, Fox and Sonic were doing. The chosen six that had gone off to fight Tabuu.

Pit shivered, even thinking about that guy gave him the creeps. Never mind that he had the power to turn people into cold unmoving statues, but nobody knew anything about him! He was a total mystery to everyone.

Well, everyone except maybe Master Hand, but nobody could ask him anything anymore.

It was kind of funny thinking back on how excited he was to finally be back in action. He would finally be able to prove to everyone that he could really fight! That him defeating both Medusa and Orcos was no fluke!

But now. After everything. He just wanted to go home, back to Great Palutena.

Another large explosion sounded off in the distance and the fighters held their breaths. Clinging to the hope that they would be able live long enough to see their homes again.

* * *

**-we're nearly outta time but youre doing fine!-**

The rest of the time Pit had spent with his friends (that wasn't in between a literal battle of life and death) was a blast!

He got to know some of his new friends so much better than he could have dreamed of! He even got a few autographs here and there. However, Palutena told him that he couldn't spend his entire life not washing his wings so most of those were lost some time later. Thankfully the new memories he created would take a lot more than a simple wash to forget.

And every day he got to explore all sorts of new places.

Mario once invited him to Isle Delfino to explore the beach and swim in the ocean. Though, Pit liked to hang around on the sand more. "My wings get soggy in the water!" that was his excuse, but he didn't have the courage to admit he wasn't a very strong swimmer.

Then sometimes he would get pulled into Dreamland by Kirby, who was more than eager to give him a tour of their world. The two would gather so much food on their trips that they would end up in food comas by mid-afternoon. With Kirby's help Pit also happily greeted the King of Dream land and thanked Dedede for his help in defeating Tabuu. "Kirby says you're a really good friend when you try to be! So thanks for helping us out back there!" as a show of peace he and Kirby offered Dedede their left over food. A single apple, Dedede wasn't very impressed.

After that, Link would offer to help train him in archery. Pit couldn't help but feel a little insulted. He'd been using his bow and arrow for as long as he could remember, but Link thought he needed more practice?! As if! He went along for the ride anyway and to Link's surprise Pit ended up being just as skilled as he was. Link did try to teach Pit the dangers of overconfidence but after Pit was able to shoot five targets at once with one of his arrows that lesson went out one ear and out the other.

Another adventure he had was with the odd new fighter named Sonic. Unlike almost every fighter he'd seen Pit had no idea who the mysterious blue hedgehog was. The only other person he was clueless about was Snake, but that was mostly because he looked nothing like a snake. An thing he and Sonic both agreed was strange.

"I mean-if his name is Snake? Shouldn't he look like a snake?"

"Exactly! Tsk tsk, that's just false advertising."

Sonic then took Pit on a run through his world, at a leisurely pace. This was only after Pit complained about how fast Sonic left him behind and almost fell into a few spiked filled holes. Sonic knew he couldn't just ditch Pit like that, so he slowed down. Every slow step they took together killed Sonic on the inside, but at least his weird new friend was safe.

As the days went on Pit found himself with more and more things to do and new friends to hang out with.

R.O.B would invite him over to play some of his own video games, the Ice Climbers would challenge Pit to a mountain climbing race (which they would win every time), Snake would let Pit use his cool radio to record his own voice, Fox and Falco gave him a ride on their Arwings, and Olimar would politely ask follow Pit around while he wrote down things in some electronic notebook thing.

And that was just a handful of things Pit got to do at his first tournament!

When the time came for everyone to return home however, Pit was more than happy to finally go home. He had fun of course, but despite all the fun he had his mind always eventually wandered to thinking how Great Palutena was doing. _'She's all alone with only the Centurions up there. I hope she hasn't forgotten about me...'_ would she be proud of how well Pit fought? Would she be jealous of the fun he had? He certainly hoped not.

Finally, when Pit was ready to return a warm beam of light enveloped him and warped him home.

He was surprised to see the image of Palutena slowly appearing in front of him, ready to greet him. Unbeknownst to Pit she had seen everything that he had gone through, the good and the bad.

Once Pit steeped foot on Skyworld he was taken in a warm embrace by his goddess, who had missed him terribly.

* * *

**-the far off future of 2014!-**

A lot had happened since the last Super Smash Bros. tournament.

For starters, Pit had saved Skyworld and every living thing everywhere. Again. Along with that he made several new friends and enemies, gotten a twin brother and best friend (but don't tell Pittoo that), branched out in his weapon uses, and was unceremoniously gifted with a general uneasiness to fire and bugs.

All in all, it had been a chaotic three years.

Back in Skyworld the real hard work had still been going since the war's end. Palutena's temple and home still needed repairs and renovations if it was ever going to look as beautiful as it did back before the Chaos Kin decided to rear its ugly everything.

That fateful afternoon Pit was taking his well-earned third lunch break that day in the ruins of the Centurion Mess Hall. The roof of the hall had caved in and half of the building was practically gone but that didn't stop Pit or the Centurions from using it as a place to eat and relax.

Pit bit into his pear, he'd spent the last few hours helping put marble columns back into their right place and boy were his arms and legs and everything else tired! He ate his fruit as slowly as he could, the longer he could put off doing his work the better. Hopefully Lady Palutena wouldn't need him to do anything else soon.

A strange strong wind blew into the Mess Hall. Several Centurions who were flying through the air were caught off guard and thrown off their balance, sadly dropping their snacks in the process. While Pit thought about the consequences of picking up the dropped snacks for himself, he was stopped in his tracks when a familiar unfamiliar object hit him in the face.

"Hu-? Ble- Wha-?"

The Centurions in the Mess Hall heard Pit's strange noises and acted accordingly. "The Captains being attacked! Centurions to arms!" an army of Centurions gathered and surrounded their Captain at all sides, ready to defend him from whatever would dare do him harm.

"Is this the thing that attacked you Captain?" a Centurion Knight carefully removed the white envelope from Pit's face, who for whatever reason hadn't thought of taking it off himself. "Attacked?" Pit asked. He couldn't get a good luck at whatever the Centurions were talking about because as soon as he tried to, a Centurion Knight threw it on the ground and began trying to stab it with his spear. "This'll teach you to mess with the Captain!" he yelled despite missing every stab. "Yeah! Let's show it who's boss!" Centurions from all across Skyworld yelled, taking turns trying to attack the poor envelope.

Throughout the entire ordeal Pit sat on the shoulders of a Strongarm, still slowly eating his pear.

Pit wouldn't notice until a while later, when the Centurions got tired of punching the nimble envelope, that his 'attacker' was another Super Smash Bros. invitation. To which he reacted to by stumbling and fainting right off Skyworld. Luckily, he fell right into the hands of a pair of fast acting Centurions.

Because of his surprise nap Pit also failed to notice another two letters flying away in the wind.

* * *

**-MEGA HI!-**

Pit pushed his way through a crowd of Veteran fighters. If they all didn't find him so endearing (in his own way) they might have been angrier at the Angel shoving them aside to get to the Newcomer.

Except for Bowser, he would later kick Pit off of Lumiose Tower that afternoon.

Once Pit made his way to the edges of the canyon he was finally able to lay his own two eyes on the Newcomer everyone had been talking about all day. The new fighter who gave Mario, Link, Donkey Kong, and even Kirby a run for their money!

It was none other than Mega Man! The Super Fighting Robot!** MEGA MAN!**

Pit couldn't be more excited about meeting him! He was a gaming icon, a legend! This was a guy you looked and just knew, _'Yup! He definitely has more than three games!' _

He HAD to get his autograph.

...But first he had to say hello.

_"An Angel never asks somebody else for anything without first introducing themselves!"_ Pit said to himself, imitating Lady Palutena the best he could.

He pumped himself up and walked forward.

Mega Man, meanwhile, was having a hard time believing he was actually here. They'd walked away from the commotion to reflect on their current status. It felt like just yesterday that they were in danger of falling into irrelevancy. With no new games coming out and every attempt to get one out resulting in a cancellation, the poor little guy was starting to lose hope in ever making a comeback.

-But now here he was! In one of the biggest fighting games ever! With some of the biggest gaming stars, including him! It was almost enough to make a robot cry.

"HI MEGA MAN!"

Rock's audio sensors spiked, sensing a noise that was loud enough to crack glass. Thankfully his dad had equipped him with stronger glass than the average window.

He turned around to see just what dying animal had made that horrible noise and to his surprise it wasn't anything of that sort. It was instead the hero he knew as Kid Ica-**PIT. HE WAS PIT HAHA! WHO WOULD THINK HIS NAME IS KID ICARUS?**

Someone green with experience, that's who.

"H-Hey Pit. What are you doin' here?" Rock said, trying hard to forget what he almost called Pit instead of his actual name. Pit did not answer back. He was too busy being amazed that Mega Man, THE MEGA MAN, knew who he was. He was frozen in happiness, surrounded by sparkles too small for the human (or robot) eye to see.

What was visible however, was the big dumb grin on his face.

Before Rock could ask if he was okay, Pit screamed out at the top of his lungs; "I am your biggest fan!"

It was something he had heard before, but this was the first time in a long time someone had yelled it to his face. It felt especially weird when it was a fellow colleague saying it to him.

Everyone else he'd meet in the tournament so far seemed so chill when Rock compared them to Pit. The other fighters had shaken his hand, said hello, and congratulated him on his acceptance into Smash Bros. None of them had called themselves his _'biggest fan'_, some of them didn't even know who he was!

It was safe to say he was confused on how to respond.

Rock locked at the excited Angel. His eyes tracked Pit up and down as he repeatedly jumped in excitement, waiting for whatever next amazing thing Mega Man would say to him.

He wasn't going to lie, it made him kind of nervous.

After some thinking Rock finally came up with the perfect response! One that would for sure let Pit know that there was no need for flattery here. They were all on equal footing, they could all be friends!

"Really? Because you look pretty short to me!"

"Oh my gosh! Do you really mean that?! Thank you!"

"Wait. N-" then a white wing smacked Rock square in the face, putting a stop to any explanation about his dumb joke he was going to offer.

"Would you please sign my wings!? Please! Please! Please!" it was at this point that the other fighters noticed the scene between the two and began to laugh among themselves. Pit always had a reputation for getting overly excited over any new fighters, whoever they may be.

It was practically a tradition now to watch the Newcomer being smothered by a overly excited Pit.

Rock, meanwhile, was trying his best to sign Pit's wings while the Angel lightly flapped them. The happy disbelief he felt over finally getting Mega Man's autograph had to go somewhere after all. "C-Can you please hold still?" Rock had no idea where Pit had gotten this cheap plastic pen but it wasn't making signing his wings any easier, considering the circumstances.

But it was the least he could do. Though, it was too bad his hilarious joke had completely flown over Pit's head. Ironically

At least Roll would have laughed at that joke.

...no she wouldn't have.

* * *

**-summon your local dark angel for only 5 orbs-**

A small group of fighters looked up at the mysterious light shining from above. Word was that there would be another Newcomer on their way, and they had chosen to arrive near the canyons where another group of Veteran fighters first encountered Greninja.

"Maybe it's another Poke-ay-mon?" Lucina asked, she sat on a rock patiently waiting for the chance to see the Newcomer with her own eyes. Hopefully this encounter would be less rowdy than the rest, herself included.

Alph gasped, "I sure hope not! I don't think I could handle helping Mr. Olimar out on another study." Cleaning his helmet of marker stains after tracking Jigglypuff was the last straw for him. Except not really, Alph couldn't just ditch Olimar like that. The old guy was so absentminded sometimes Alph worried he would end up seriously hurting himself.

Duck Hunt Dog slightly kicked their leg, they had grown tired of waiting and decided to take a nap instead. The duck was napping not too far away, deciding to nest right on top of the dog's head.

"What do you think they're dreaming about?" Alph asked Lucina, the two of them had almost nothing in common so making conversation to pass the time was almost impossible. But Alph was willing to try.

Lucina looked at the Duck Hunt Duo and then back at Alph, a confused look on her face. "Animals can dream?" people had dreams, she knew that. No one back in her world ever said anything about animals ever having dreams. Cherche might have joked around about Minerva dreaming once or twice but she couldn't have been serious, could she?

"Yeah! Mr. Olimar told me all about it!" for about two hours actually, "He said that animals dream just like us! Except they mostly dream of stuff they've done before."

"That's incredible!"

"W-Well compliment Mr. Olimar about it not me! I'm just the messenger."

They both went silent a little after that. Whoever this Newcomer was-they were really taking their sweet time. No wonder all the other fighters that had been waiting with them left.

"If animals have dreams...?" Lucina spoke up again, "That means dragons have dreams too right?"

"A what-?"

Before Alph's world could be changed by Lucina's explanation of what the heck a dragon was, the light that had been shining in the sky finally traveled down to where the three fighters were waiting. The sudden light even managed to wake up Duck Hunt Dog and their partner. They whined and ran closer to where Lucina and Alph were waiting.

"I really hope it's not another Pokemon..." Alph whined.

In the sky a dark silhouette appeared. It slowly came down, from down on the ground Lucina could see a pair of wings sticking out behind their back. That was the most distinct thing about them, everything else was nearly invisible because of the distance.

As the Newcomer got closer and closer the fighters were able to see a lot more details. A lot of familiar details.

"Isn't that Pit?"

"Pit isn't a Newcomer! Is he?" Alph, being a 'Newcomer' himself was still having trouble getting to know the fighters in the tournament.

-quack!- answered the Duck.

Finally, 'Pit' touched the ground, the light that had been illuminating him disappeared. No one dared to move. "He still looks a lot like Pit." Lucina whispered to Alph. The Newcomer pouted, clearly annoyed at the words Lucina thought she whispered quietly enough for only Alph to hear. Then, the Pit look alike opened his mouth to speak.

"I-!"

"PITTOO!"

Out of nowhere, from Pittoo's left side Pit came running. He tackled his twin to the ground in a tight hug. The darker shade of him tried hopelessly to push him off, yelling something about 'Looking uncool in front of the competition!'

"Oh gods, there's two of them."

* * *

**-let your cool older brother show you how its done-**

Though the fourth Super Smash Bros. tournament had yet to officially start there was no rule against letting the fighters practice before the official matches started. In fact, it was encouraged. Mostly for Newcomers, to allow them to get a feel on how fights would go and to familiarize themselves with their moves.

This is how Dark Pit and Pit ended up in a practice match of their own.

"Okay Pittoo! Since I'm an official Super Smash Brothers Veteran its up to me to show you the ropes!" Pit beamed with pride, he still couldn't believe he'd been invited back. That almost put him on the same level as other fighters. Imagining himself being on par with THE Mario and Luigi was almost enough to make him faint.

"Hey Pitstain! Are we here to practice or are you just gonna stand there smiling like an idiot?"

Pit glared at his twin, what gave him the right to interrupt his perfect daydream? "Well yeah, we're gonna practice! But don't get mad at me! You're the one who asked me to come with you!" he pointed an accusatory finger at his very rude brother. Someone should really teach him manners one of these days.

Instead of apologizing like Pit had foolishly hoped he'd do, Pittoo scoffed. "I didn't ask you to come with me! All I said was that I was leaving to go train! Then you said _'I wanna come toooo!'_ Then I said _'No!'_ Then you got sad and whiny! Then Palutena said 'Take him with you Pittoo, he's your brother remember?' Then I said 'No! Again!' THEN Palutena told you to go with me and now we're here! Standing in the middle of Big Battlefield like a couple of morons!"

Pittoo's yelling echoed throughout the nearly empty stage.

"You done?"

Out of breath because of his lengthy explanation, Pittoo didn't answer.

* * *

**-here we go buddy, here we go buddy, here we go, here we go buddy, here we go-**

Fighting each other wasn't a new thing for either Angel, but this was the first time they faced each other in such a strange environment. There were no health bars, no crisis mode, and no power cards.

This was about as boring a fight as it could get, at least for Dark Pit.

"Pit stop! Just stop!" mid-slice Pit lowered his Palutena Bow, wondering what could have happened to have Pittoo stop fighting. Usually this was one of the only things he liked to do. "What's wrong?" he gasped, bringing his hands to his mouth. "I didn't hurt you did I?!" there wasn't supposed to be any danger when fighting in matches. Sure, there was the occasional emotional damage but it wasn't supposed to 'hurt'.

"No! No you didn't!" Pittoo felt a little insulted Pit of all people thought he would be able to injure him to the point of calling the match off. But that wasn't the point! "Pit don't you think it's a little unfair that we're only allowed to use these weapons?" he held his Silver Bow up, it wasn't the weapon he'd picked when he found out he was invited to the tournament but it was the one he got stuck with.

"Unfair?" Pit tilted his head in confusion, his Laurel Crown tipping to the side. Pittoo scowled, he'd have to explain something to Pit, AGAIN. "Remember our last adventure?" Pit nodded, okay so far so good. "And do you remember all the cool weapons you and me got to use?" Pittoo waited for a sign from Pit that he had understood.

"Yeah I do! Like the Palutena Bow!" he held up his prized bow proudly.

"Besides that one."

Pit quickly lowered his bow.

"Don't you remember the Staffs, the Clubs, the Palms?"

"The Bows!"

"FORGET ABOUT THE BOWS FOR A MINUTE!"

"Right."

Dark Pit started again, "My point is-Why do we only get to use one weapon?! Don't you think we should get to use our entire arsenal?" he wanted so badly to be able to use his Dark Pit Staff to fight but that fun-ruiner Master Hand just HAD to get all uppity about his fighting style getting too different than Pit's.

"Why do I have to fight exactly like you anyway?!" Pittoo flapped his wings, annoyed, "It's not fair."

"We don't fight exactly the same!"

Dark Pit held up his Silver Bow, holding it the same way Pit was holding his Palutena Bow. "People seem to think we do." he said.

Truthfully, they did. Both Angels knew the same moves, the same techniques, and had the same abilities. They were perfect equals in all sense of the word. " Is that what's bothering you?" Pit hesitated a bit before continuing, he never like referring to Dark Pit as just a clone. It made him feel, wrong.

"Are people calling you a clone?"

"Yeah, but that's not the problem here!"

'_What's Pittoo talking about?!'_ if people were calling him a clone there was definitely a big problem! How could people that barely meet his brother just write him off like that?

Talk about rude!

While Pit was busy thinking to himself over what fighters could have possibly called his twin a clone, Pittoo continued talking. "-sure, he let me keep the Electroshock Arm but then he said, _'That's enough weapons for you Dark Pit. Three is enough._' What do you mean that's enough weapons?! I can carry more!"

In reality, he could have probably carried only two more but that still would have been one more weapon than he had.

"You took the Guardian Orbitars didn't you?"

Pittoo sighed, he brought out his pair of Guardian Orbitars. Which was a surprise to Pit, he had no idea Pittoo even owned a pair. He wasn't the type of person to use defense as a strategy, he was more of the _'shoot until its dead'_ kind of guy. "That's cause they're not mine Pitstain." Pit looked away from the Orbitars and back to Pittoo, "Master Hand said I HAD to have them so he gave me a pair of your extra ones. Somehow."

'Oh.' Pit thought, 'That's why they look so familiar.'

"I told him I didn't want Orbitars! But noooo I have to fight exactly like you!" Pittoo crossed his arms and sat down, tired of standing in place yelling his guts out over something that he'd been mad about for days. Pit couldn't help but feel a bit guilty for not noticing Pittoo's obvious plight, but on the bright side now he knew about it! And he was gonna help whether Pittoo wanted him to or not!

"Pittoo!" Pittoo didn't show any sign that he had heard Pit, nonetheless, Pit continued. "Just leave everything to me! I'll talk to Master Hand and see if you can bring in different weapons!"

"Huh?" he definitely heard him that time.

"And-_And_ if he says no, I'll sneak in weapons! I'll bring a Club! Or maybe a Staff? Maybe another Arm!"

"Wait hold on-!" what Pit was saying was crazy! Sure, he wanted a bigger arsenal but not at the risk of getting Pit kicked out of Smash Bros. for breaking the rules. Ugh, why couldn't he show this much enthusiasm for rebellion with Palutena instead of the coolest video game tournament that almost no one got into?

It was far too late for Pittoo to say anything to stop Pit at this point. Once his mind was set on something, especially when it came to doing something nice for the people he loved, he never backed down.

"And if anyone calls you a clone, I'll beat em' up!"

Pittoo couldn't help but laugh, "No you won't."

"I wiiilll!" he whined.

* * *

**-familiar relationships-**

When Palutena first found out she was invited to the next Super Smash Bros. tournament she kept it a secret from Pit for as long as she could. When the day came she could no longer find it easy to keep it a secret she remembered why she opted to keep it a secret.

Pit was still technically her guard after all, it wasn't a surprise that he would try to protect her even when they weren't in Skyworld.

To Pit, what was once a fun getaway with his new friends suddenly became no different than his life at home. Every second and every minute he spent awake he spent it protecting Lady Palutena from anything that would try to harm her. The worst part to Palutena was that, he wasn't even aware of the sudden change.

It's not like she minded Pit always being by her side, it made their temporary world feel just like home. You don't spend years and years together and not grow accustomed to having them by your side.

What she did mind however, was Pit turning down his friend's invitations to hang out with them in favor of guarding her instead.

_"I don't mind Lady Palutena! I am your Captain of the Guard after all!"_

The solution was simple, order him to stop guarding her and instead to go have fun with his friends. But that wouldn't be any better than what was happening now. Pit should be able to decide for himself what to do, and if what he wanted to do was guard her the whole time...Who was she to say no?

Eventually his guarding reached a breaking point once the matches officially began.

It happened during her first official battle. Palutena had been chosen to fight fellow newcomer Wii-Fit trainer. She'd prepared accordingly by researching all about her opponent beforehand, but all she could really find out was that...they were a fitness trainer? She knew she couldn't afford to underestimate anyone in this tournament but Palutena didn't really know what to think of the decision to invite them.

Then again this was Super Smash Bros. If they were here then they had to be a force to be reckoned with, so she couldn't let her guard down! Even for a mere fitness trainer.

Once Palutena was in the match things took a turn for the worse. It was clear to her she was losing. The trainer's moves were unpredictable and erratic, Palutena had little idea what they would pull out next. She sure hadn't expected to be hit in the face with a soccer ball.

"Ahh?!" Palutena tripped, falling back first onto the stage. This was surely the end.

"Lady Palutena!" a terrified scream came from the audience. It was loud and clear. Right before she was launched off Palutena managed to turn around in time to see her loyal Captain desperately reaching out to her, he would have gone right off the rails if it wasn't for Lucario and Sheik holding him back.

That was the last she saw of that scene because the very next second she was seeing the bottom of the stage's safety net.

"GAME"

As it turned out Pit had attempted to jump into her match, even well after it was over. He was only stopped when Sheik managed to tie him down with their odd invisible strings. After the winner's ceremony the first thing Palutena did was rush to her Captain, who was beside himself with guilt because he had 'failed in protecting his Goddess.'

It broke her heart.

* * *

**-BLAPI PITTOO PITTOO PITTOO-**

Pit sat beside Palutena as they both watched Pittoo's first practice match. Palutena traded between glancing at seeing how Pittoo was fairing against Zelda and seeing how Pit was holding up watching the match.

One angel was obviously handling the pressure much better than the other.

"Pit are you alright?" Palutena asked, noticing just how tense Pit looked. His grip on the railings was threatening to bend them in half. "I'm perfectly fine Lady Palutena!" he said, lying. "It's not like I'm worried that Pittoos gonna lose and then he'll get mad about it and avoid us for an entire day! Then he'll go train for who knows how long, then he'll forget to eat and sleep AND THEN-"

"Pit, breath."

Pit took a large calming breath and loosened his grip on the railings, "Thanks Lady Palutena." She smiled back at him, even now Pit was quite the worrywart it seemed. "Don't worry about it too much Pit. And look, it looks like Pittoo is doing quite well for himself!" Pit turned his attention back to Pittoo's match and true to Lady Palutena's word he'd managed to get the upper hand on his opponent.

"Who wants some?!" he taunted. The crowd cheered for the Angel who had somehow managed to get two stocks ahead of his opponent. As Zelda was brought back to the stage for one more round, the excitement of the crowd reached Pit and he started to cheer for his twin as loud as he could.

"PITTOO! PITTOO! PITTOO!"

A few non-descript audience members, just as pumped up as him, soon followed his lead.

"PITTOO! PITTOO! PITTOO!"

Soon enough the cheer had spread around to the entire audience. All of them all yelling the same cheer.

"PITTOO! PITTOO! PITTOO!"

As soon as the roar of the crowd reach Dark Pit's ears, his face grew bright red. 'HH-How do they know about that stupid nickname?!' Pittoo in a panic looked around, the cheer of the crowds still echoing through the stage. Eventually his gaze fell upon Pit and Palutena, the former of who was screaming Pittoo's name as loud as he possibly could.

"Pitstain!" completely forgetting he was still in a match Dark Pit directed his anger towards his brother, "What are you doing?! Stop saying that! That's the last time I wanna hear that name!"

Despite Dark Pit's threats the crowd kept chanting the same cheer, all lead by his loving brother and Palutena who happily clapped along.

Meanwhile Zelda stood idly by, confused whether she should keep the match going or not.

* * *

**-pit's guidance-**

Palutena opened her magical pair of sacred doors and stepped out onto the stage. Her very own temple. A little too compressed for her tastes but she wasn't in the mood for another argument with Master Hand again.

She knew in advanced that her opponent for this match was the heroic plumber himself, Mario. It was pretty much actually impossible to be in Super Smash Bros. without knowing about him and all the impressive feats he's accomplished (i.e. Saving kingdoms, saving the multiple worlds from a dark prophecy that would end up reducing them to nothing, winning a tennis tournament etc.) But for today she was going to act as clueless about him as she could. For Pit's sake.

On the opposite side of the temple Mario was quickly making his way over to her. That didn't give her much time to alert Pit. She jumped warped back quite a distance to create more room between her and Mario, then she spread out her rarely shown wings and let out her signal.

Then there was nothing.

Mario was practically just a few seconds away from up-b'ing her into the stratosphere if she didn't fight back at some point.

"Pit? You didn't flake out on me did you!?"

Unlike the previous attempt Pit responded immediately, "Of course not Lady Palutena! Oooooh wait...was that the signal?"

Palutena reflected Mario's fireballs back at him. Lucky for her he didn't have enough time to cape them back to her. "It sure was! Remember if you're going to do this one day you need to pay attention!"

"Whatever you say Lady Palutena." Pit wasn't sure why Lady Palutena had actually listened to his request to help her with his own brand of guidance. He'd jokingly brought it up one day after one of his matches and he saw her face light up, as it often did when she had a great idea.

Now here he was, supervising the match from where Lady Palutena usually sits. The seat is a little big but its fine.

"Pit? Any day now!" Pit came back down to reality and saw that Palutena had successfully warded off Mario with an explosive flame. She looked to be doing fine without her help but if this is what she really wanted-then who was he to say no?

"Right, I'm ready!"

"Okay Pit, who's this?" she pointed her staff at Mario who instinctively shielded himself from anything Palutena was potentially going to shoot at him. When nothing came from her staff he rushed in for a sweep.

"THATS MARIO, LADY PALUTENA! HE DEBUTED IN 1981 IN DONKEY KONG IN ARCADES! HE WAS A HUGE HIT! COURSE HE WAS KNOWN AS JUMPMAN BACK THEN BUT THEN HE WAS MARIO. ANYWAY-IN MARIO BROS. HE-"

Throughout the rest of the match Pit recounted Mario's entire history to Palutena, who tried her best to fight back despite the ramblings from her Angel ringing in her head.

* * *

**-smash tour BAYBEE-**

See, this would be the part of the fan fic where I would probably write about Palutena and Pit playing Smash Tour or something.

But that would involve me playing Smash Tour to remember how it works.

...

So, yeah. Moving on.

* * *

**-everyone's hero-**

Pittoo chased after his brother, who was currently chasing after both Little Mac and Rosalina. Well, chasing wouldn't be the right word. 'Spying on them' would probably be the better way to describe it.

"Pitstain, WHAT are you doing?!" Pit was hunkered down behind a bush, observing Little Mac's fight with a Hammer Brother. Pit quickly shushed his chatty brother, "I'm helping! Can't you tell?"

Dark Pit could not, but whatever kind of help Pit was providing behind of a shrub didn't seem to be helping Little Mac at all, which might have been better for both twins. "You do know we're all competing against each other, right?" Both of them included. Dark pit was resisting every urge to leave his brother behind and go rack up stat points himself, but he'd never hear the end of it from Palutena or Viridi if he did that.

While Pittoo was contemplating if a lecture from Palutena was worth getting to show off his victory to everyone who thought they could beat him, a familiar treasure chest appeared next to Little Mac. "Take it Mac! You've earned it" a disembodied voice shouted from nowhere. Pittoo looked in all sorts of different directions to find whoever had said that. His hopeless search didn't last long before he was scared out of it by Pit shouting-

"LITTLE MAC DONT!"

Pit sprung out from his hiding place and Little Mac readied himself for a battle. Instead what he got was a light push from a light Angel. That was all it took for Pit to save the little boxer from a faceful of Mimicutie kicks.

Which Little Mac found out because Pit was subjected to them instead.

After the Smash Run, Little Mac and his trainer, Doc Louis, graciously gifted Pit an entire chocolate bar for helping to save the young boxer. It took a bit of effort to get Doc to loosen his grip on the candy, but once he did Pit was ecstatic to get such a delicious reward for his efforts of protecting one his fellow fighters from the dangers of his own world.

It was a nice surprise, he hadn't expected any sort of thanks.

Pittoo was only a little bit jealous. Only a little bit because he had won the Smash Run. Victory was sweeter than a stupid chocolate bar anyway!

...Maybe.

* * *

**-you're not me!-**

Pittoo descended onto Green Hill Zone for his next battle.

He hadn't bothered checking who he was up against. Then again, that wouldn't be the first time he'd done that._ 'You're always so eager to fight Pittoo, you need to plan for your battles.'_ Palutena told him once, Pittoo had simply scoffed at her and walked away without a word.

Dark Pit didn't think there was any point in doing any "planning" for his battles. Fighting opponents was as simple as hitting harder and faster than them. If he managed to do just that, then he was bound to win!

...That would be true for this battle as well.

As soon as Dark Pit touched down and the light around him disappeared, he immediately noticed the all too familiar blonde ponytail of his new 'boss'. (Dark Pit still felt a deep pit in his stomach whenever he remembered his new position.)

But that didn't make any sense?! Viridi wasn't a fighter! She had yelled and whined for an entire week about not being invited when Palutena received her invitation. And Dark Pit **KNEW** that unlike Palutena, Viridi would not be able to keep her acceptance into the tournament a secret from anyone.

"Viridi?" the battle wouldn't officially begin for another few seconds so that gave him a little bit of time to ask what in the Overworld she was doing here. "Psst! Hey! I thought you weren't invited here! Or are you one of those fancy 'Dee El Sea' fighters everyone keeps talking about?"

'Viridi' didn't respond. They only looked at Dark Pit with a blank thousand-mile stare.

A cold shiver traveled up Pittoo's spine, those eyes had nothing behind them. It was almost like he was about to fight some weird knock off clone of Viridi. A part of him couldn't help thinking it was appropriate for him.

"Pittoo! You dummy!" Viridi's voiced echoed nearby. Pittoo's first instinct was to look back at the Viridi look alike and when it didn't say anything else, he turned to his attention to the telepathic link with the 'real' Viridi. "That _thing_ isn't me! I don't look anything like that! How could you possibly think that was me?!"

Was she kidding?! It looked almost exactly like her! Anyone would have been fooled!

Except no, that wasn't true.

The Announcer started the countdown and Dark Pit still hadn't answered Viridi's question. "Hellooo? I'm still here you know!" Yeah, he knows. "Did you actually think that was me?"

"You gotta admit. It's as short as you."

* * *

**-for fun. FOR LADY PALUTENA!-**

Pit stumbled through the portal that lead to matches throughout different parts of the world, Villager tripped right behind him. Both were tired from fighting. And losing.

Villager planted a seed into the ground and grew a large tree so the pair could have some cool shade to sit under. The pair of teammates collapsed in exhaustion. A few fighters glanced at them as they themselves set out for some matches outside in the world, but no one paid them any mind.

"I didn't think fighting people from around the world would be so hard! Did you Villager?" Pit asked, Villager frowned and shook their head in response. They weren't the most talkative person in the tournament Pit had meet. That left Pit to do most of the talking, which he didn't mind at all. "Everyone we fought kicked our butts! How could we lose if there were two of us?!" Villager tapped on Pit's shoulders to get his attention. Once they did they then held up their two hands.

"Well, yeah...I guess there were two of them on the other team too..." Pit crossed his arms and pouted, "-but I still think we could have won."

Villager gave a silent-ish sigh and watered their tree, making sure it wasn't going away anytime soon. During this they managed to catch a quick glace of the sign above the portal they had entered earlier.

In a panic Villager shook Pit out of his pity party. "W-Woah?! What is it Villager?!" he looked at Villager who was panicking and pointing at the sign they had read earlier. Unfortunately, Villager did not know Pit well enough to know that Pit had no idea of what the sign said.

"You don't wanna go back in there do you?!" frustrated at the lack of Pit's understanding Villager ran off. "Villager?" before Pit could even think of reasons Villager would ditch him, they came back dragging a very confused Shulk by the hand.

"Hey Shulk! Uh-what are you doing here?"

"I don't understand what just happened."

Villager tugged on Shulk's arms and aggressively pointed at the sign they had read earlier.

"'For Glory?'" Shulk read aloud, "What about it?"

"What?!" Pit finally understood, to Villager's relief. With a job well done Villager smiled proudly and gently pushed Shulk out of frame and out of this story.

"You're telling me we went up against like, scary people who have nothing to lose?!"

Villager nodded.

"We could have died!"

Villager nodded again and pat Pit's back in understanding. They would have lived of course, but Pit would have been a goner no matter who they teamed up with.

Leave it to Villager to carry them all the way to 2nd place.

* * *

**-core of the problem-**

"Uh oh."

Pit was in trouble. Big trouble. As big as the giant that had suddenly manifested in front of him. And whatever it was that had come out of Master Hand was not happy to see him.

The giant looked straight at Pit (Did it have eyes?) and unleashed a roar.

The roar was so loud and powerful it created shockwaves. Pit couldn't keep his footing and tripped. He sat on the ground frozen in awe at the enemy before him. He was already down a 'stock' from his fight with both Master and Crazy Hand, so it was safe to say he was very _very _nervous.

Then the stage moved.

"Wait. WAIT!"

The giant gripped the ends of the stage and brought it up towards them. This caused Pit to bounce directly into a ball of energy he was sure wasn't there a few seconds ago. He landed back on the stage with a thud, "Don't do that!" It was clear now that Pit had to start fighting back or there was a high chance he would be finished.

He separated his Palutena Bow into a pair of blades. Before he could think of a strategy to take the on the giant, a large arm swept towards him. "Eep!" Pit successfully jumped over the sudden attack and took a few quick slashes at the giant's face.

"I bet that hurts doesn't it?!"

The giant said nothing in response to Pit's quip. '"Hmph, rude..." the monster only continued its rampage, trying its absolute best to squish Pit into an angelic pancake. Pit continued attacking what he could only guess was where the giant's weak spot was. _'Everyone hates getting hit in the face! Even giant smoke monsters!' _it was a brilliant strategy, and it seemed to be working so far. The only problem was that despite the giant constantly spitting out smoke it wasn't getting any smaller.

For now.

After a particularly strong hit, Pit felt as if time stopped. Then his whole body shook. He started to drop to the ground, unable to move as the mysterious smoke moved all around him.

The smoke almost looked like the strange black particles that attacked Pittoo, back when...

Only one thought echoed through Pit's head, _'Is Pittoo okay?!_'

After what felt like forever. Pit finally landed back on the stage with a thud. Pit adjusted his crooked Laurel Crown and checked his damage, still a little dizzy from the fall. "88 percent..." that wasn't promising at all.

Another loud roar came from the mysterious creature. Pit covered his ears and turned to where he saw most of the smoke retreat to. The smoke had changed shapes from a menacing giant to that of a huge beast. At least it was smaller than before, that meant it would be easier to hit! Pit slowly stood, using his blades for support. His wings were smoking now and he knew he wouldn't last long now. No matter what he did. "Y-You think turning into a dog is gonna stop me? I've beaten Twinbellows and **I can beat you too!" **then again, Twinbellows couldn't turn into a giant. Or vice versa.

A strange noise interrupted his thoughts, _**"-. - / .- .- .- -.-"**_

"Huh?"

The beast lunged at him. Caught off guard, Pit managed to protect himself using his Guardian Orbitars. "Stay back!" Pit secretly hoped it would listen to his command. It was unlikely but hope was all he had now. The beast was stopped in its tracks. Unable to hit Pit it tried and tried to claw at him over and over.

It was only a matter a time until the Orbitar's shields would fade, but Pit hoped they would hold out long enough to give him time to think of a strategy.

Then the Guardian Orbitars shattered.

A single slash was all it took to send Pit flying, one last time.

The Palutena Bow flew from his hands, falling into the dark abyss below. "Ahh...?"

As the clock prepared to rewind itself to grant Pit one more chance another set of noises rung through his head, much louder than before. It was so loud he couldn't even hear his own self-deprecating thoughts about how he had failed.

_**".-. .. - .-.-.- / ... . .-.. .-. / - . .-.-.-"**_

Then Pit was finished.

* * *

**-the price of freedom...is $5.99. unless you buy the fighters pass-**

Pit happily drank from his super-expensive strawberry smoothie he had been begging Lady Palutena to buy him all morning. Sitting next to him was his brother who was eating from a bag of chocolate chip cookies he'd found in a garbage can in Onett.

"Isn't this great Pittoo?"

Pittoo silently continued eating his cookies. As expected, Pit kept talking. "The sun is shining! The weather is cool! We're eating delicious food!"

Pittoo froze, looking as if he was going to engage in the conversation. Before stuffing another cookie in his mouth. Pit didn't mind, if he were eating chocolate chip cookies he would be doing the same thing. He took another big sip from his smoothie. It was a good thing Pit never got brain freeze!

"Yup-! It's just you, me and-"

"**CLOUD STRIFE?!**"

Pit immediately started choking on his smoothie which caused him to drop the rest onto the ground. Dark Pit meanwhile had to make sure his twin didn't meet his end because of a stupid beverage. Either Angel failed to notice the nervous look on Cloud's face as he quickly steeped away from the two-winged Angels.

* * *

**-sister series-**

"Samus! Saaaamus help!"

Samus turned around to see the familiar sight of Pit running at her. Throughout the years the Angel had garnered a reputation for appearing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And calling out for Samus mere minutes before HIS own battle was going to start was definitely the wrong time.

"Pit? What are you doing here? You're scheduled to fight against uh-that new fighter, right?" Samus hadn't heard much about the Newcomer that just arrived, but she did know that they had won some sort of contest to get here. It was the strangest way a Newcomer had been chosen so far, but if they were wanted in the tournament that badly they must be tough.

Or Samus might have come to that conclusion because of Pit.

"I can't! I can't fight her!"

Samus was taken aback for a second, "Whaaat? You, Pit 'That was easy!' flash a peace sign-not confident in fighting someone?" Pit gave a scared nod, still on the ground looking like he was cowering from a hidden enemy. "Well, consider me surprised." whoever it was that Pit was fighting must be really something if even he was hiding from them. She could barely tell this was the same reckless kid who challenged Ganondorf, The King of Evil, the first chance he got. Now here he was running away to her of all people for help.

"Samus please you have to help! Can you fight her for me!?"

"Pit you know that's against the rules."

Even if she wanted to, she couldn't risk breaking any more rules than she already had through her illustrious twenty-five years of participating in Smash Bros.

For the first time since he had come to Samus for help, Pit stood and looked up at her. His face was awash with determination and for a while Samus thought that he had gotten a major boost of confidence from out of nowhere to face his terrifying opponent. The next words out of Pit's mouth proved that wasn't the case. Not even close.

"You have to help me! Cause...Cause...you're my big sister!"

**"What?!"**

Whatever calm and tough aura Samus emoted to others was shattered and replaced with the feelings of a very confused and rattled Samus who was fairly sure she had no siblings.

No. No, she knew she had no siblings.

"Pit. Pit listen to me. I don't know who told you that lie but I am not your big sister, not even close." she gestured towards herself and Pit, "Look at us Pit. We look nothing alike."

Aside from the whole humanoid thing.

"Lady Palutena told me!"

"Of course she did."

Pit constantly gushed about Palutena to anyone who was willing to listen to him, but no one was ever able to get a good read on what she was really like. But thanks to the new tournament those who were curious about her were finally able to meet the Legendary Goddess of Light face-to-face. It was only then that a lot of Pit's unique quirks were finally explained. As soon as Palutena arrived and stuck her entire arm into the cheese fondue fountain, everything finally clicked into place.

"I'm sure whatever she said she meant as some sort of joke-"

Pit immediately cut her off, "No way! Lady Palutena would never joke about this!" Pit began to explain his case, striking a pose that resembled how Palutena would look when explaining some long and hard to understand topic.

"Lady Palutena told me that because our games were made on the same engine and by some...uh some same people? That we're considered 'sister' games!" he proudly pushed up his invisible glasses.

"I..see?" she did not.

Samus had never really grasped the concept of the _'fourth wall'_ so many of the other fighters talked about, though it mostly seemed to be Pit's friends that talked about it. She was certainly smart enough to understand it, but there were way too many other things for her to worry about than that. Maybe she would ask about it some other time.

"Please Samus! You gotta!"

Samus sighed, why was she dealing with this instead of Palutena? Of all people she would expect her to be the first person he would run to if he was in trouble. Could the Newcomer be that intimidating that Pit didn't want to put his Goddess in danger and instead had come running to the next best thing.

Samus would have felt insulted if Pit wasn't in the right to come running to her.

That was the last straw, she had to know. "Pit, who could you possibly be fighting to make you so nervous that you would come to you 'big sister' for help?"

Pit quickly looked from side to side, looking behind himself just for good measures. Finally, once he knew there was no one else around he whispered to her, "I don't know who she is but her job is to kill Angels."

Samus began the process of removing her Varia Suit, "Say no more."

* * *

**-i dropped my phone for this-**

**Palutena:** I declare the official Kid Icarus: Super Bash Sisters chat room open!

**im pit!:** :D

**a better pit!:** blehh

**Palutena:** Thank you Pit. I'm glad you're here too.

**a better pit!:** how du yu now wat he sald

**im pit!:** :(

**Palutena:** Years of training.

**Palutena:** On that note, your writing is improving! Maybe you could teach Pit how to write someday.

**a better pit!:** Not on your life.

**a better pit!:** I didn't even want to be in this dumb group anyway!

**Palutena:** Wow.

**im pit!:** :'(

**Palutena:** Oh, look at that! Now you made Pit sad! I can hear him wailing from the other room.

**a better pit!:** No he is not. I would be able to tell.

**Palutena:** Okay, maybe he's not wailing. More like whining.

**im pit!:** :T

**Palutena:** By the way Pittoo.

**Palutena:** I know I complimented your writing before but why does it seem you suddenly improved in the last five seconds?

**im pit!:** o_0

**a better pit!:** Hey, it's Viridi, Pittoo's asked me to type for him so he could look cool.

**Palutena:** Pittoo! That's cheating!

**im pit!:** :O

**a better pit!:** Now he's trying to smack the phone out of my hands LOL

**a better pit!:** sa ashbdwqiuq 9324u32bbsahbdsa 25`

**Palutena:** Oh my.

**im pit!:** :/

**Palutena:** Don't worry about it Pit. I'm sure they're fine.

**im pit!:** :O

**Palutena:** Oh? Do you wanna show me something? I'll be right on my way then.

**im pit!:** hi palutena :D

**Palutena:** AKSFSAKJBDKJSABDKJSANBKJDSNDKJSANDKJSNKJDNAKJDSN

**a better pit!:** big deel

* * *

**-2018? i barely knew her!-**

It was **YET ANOTHER** quiet Skyworld day, where the narrator was starting to feel like a broken record.

Outside of Skyworld however a storm was raging. Like, a literal thunderstorm, nothing philosophical here. Thankfully Palutena had her 'Power of Forcefields' protecting her temple for this very reason. A Goddess can only bear getting suddenly soaked so many times before she snaps.

Unfortunately, the Forcefield also had the added benefit of keeping whatever or whoever was inside the temple trapped until Palutena decided to turn it off.

"Don't worry Pittoo! I'm sure the rain will stop-" a bolt of lightning hit the forcefield, causing Pit to jump in surprise. "...eventually."

Dark Pit had come over to Palutena's Temple to ask the simple favor of borrowing some Hearts from Pit for a cool new weapon Viridi had on sale. Now he was stuck in Skyworld until **PALUTENA** decided to let him go, or until Viridi answered his calls. What was even worse was that by the time he got back the weapon he came here for in the first place might be gone!

Then, in the middle of his moping and Pit's useless attempts to cheer him Dark Pit's eyes caught something fluttering in the wind. Three somethings, to be more specific.

"Hey Pitstain. I think Palutena forgot some Centurions outside." Dark Pit pointed to where the weird-somethings were flying in place. Except they weren't. They were heading right for the pair of Angels. Pit didn't have to look hard to see what Pittoo was talking about, because as soon as he turned to look where Pittoo had pointed three envelopes collided with force field in front of him.

Very familiar looking envelopes.

Pit slowly lifted up his hand to point at the envelopes that were struggling to stay put against the harsh winds, "Are those-?"

"Smash Brothers invitations?" Pittoo's response was instantaneous.

"Yeah. That."

"Probably."

The two brothers stared at each other. Then they ran up and started banging their hands against the forcefield. One of them even got a running start and kicked it. Another chance at the spotlight was right in front of them! Right behind an impenetrable forcefield that could only be pierced by the power of the Lightning Chariot moving at an abnormally high speed, and not by two Angels trying their hardest to punch and kick their way through it.

"Lady Palutena! Lady Palutena! There's new invitations for Super Smash Brothers! Can you hear me!?"

"This is a matter of life or death Palutena! Come on!"

The twins tried in vain to contact Palutena or break through the forcefield, whichever came first. When neither of those incredibly well thought out plans worked the Angels choose instead to take turns staring at the letters to make sure they didn't blow away somewhere else. They took turns blinking to make sure at least one of them had their eyes on the letters at all times.

Unsurprisingly it was very boring and very stressful.

-and Palutena, too busy soaking in the Hot Springs, would not lift the forcefield for another two agonizing hours.

* * *

**-icarus stands too close to the sun-**

"Pit. Don't you think you're..."

Palutena stared at the giant flaming Super Smash Bros. insignia that **SOMEBODY** decided was a good idea. Her suspicions fell onto the new Link that had made his entrance just a few weeks before. He had arrived falling from the sky with a lit torch in his hand and thousands of small seeds falling from his pockets.

But that was just a hunch.

Her attention fell back to her Angel, who was seemingly too busy trying to look cool to the Newcomers to care about the raging inferno behind him. Even while all the other fighters had clearly noticed, evidenced by the sudden tense stance they all took.

Ah, but she just had to say something. He was just standing...so close.

"Pit, don't you agree that you're...standing a little too close to...well." if she said something about the fire behind him who knows how he would react?

"Standing to close to what Lady Palutena?" Pit's full attention was directed at the Inklings, but they looked to be busy staring at something else-and since when was it this bright in here?

"Lady Palutena? Did you light the room up with something?"

She decided it would be better to keep quiet and quickly bring him back.

* * *

**-COLONEL we've managed to avoid leaks-**

Pit took a large sip from his custom made and extremely expensive Drink of the Gods smoothie. It was his personal reward to himself for finishing unpacking so quickly. He'd even finished up faster than both Lady Palutena and Pittoo! Probably because they were both busy arguing over Pittoo's decision of not staying in the Temple of Light with them. Palutena decided to let Dark Pit cool off for a few hours while she did the same. That left Pit by himself on the mountain with no one but his own thoughts.

So, it was pretty quiet overall.

"Hey Angel."

A strangely familiar rough voice came from behind of Pit. _'Who would come all the way up here?'_ the mountain was cold and very hard to climb, and that voice didn't sound like it came from either Ice Climber. Though it had been a while since he'd last seen them.

Pit squinted his eyes, trying to get a closer look at the silhouette of the person who had called out to him. He hoped it wasn't someone mean. Like Bowser, or one of his eight kids. The closer the figure walked though, the clearer is was that this was someone Pit hadn't seen in years. Someone Pit had no idea if he would ever see again.

"S...Sss...Sna...?"

"Err it says here I have to sign in in the main city building? I can't find it. Do you know-"

Pit's very expensive custom made smoothie drooped from his hands and hit the ground with a splash. A bit of it splashed on Pit himself, but there was no reaction from him even though his tunic was essentially ruined.

"Uhh...?"

Pit was mumbling something, but it was incoherent. This only made Snake feel even more unnerved.

"Right. I'll just, be going.

As Snake turned around to leave Pit's mind finally cleared up and he was finally able to process who exactly was in front of him.

"Snake?!"

"That's-"

"Snaaake?! You're Snake! Snake! Like, you're actually Snake!"

When had he gotten here?! Was he allowed to be here?! Oh, he had so many questions to ask! Like where was he this whole time, what had he been doing, and how had his new game worked out and-

"SNA-oh he's gone."

Pit was left alone on the cold mountain once again, but sadly this time he was smoothieless.

_"Don't worry Pit I'm sure you'll see him again! He was probably just in a hurry!"_ 'Lady Palutena' said.

"You're right Lady Palutena!" maybe when Pittoo came back he would tell him that Snake was back in the brawl, that would cheer him up for sure. His twin had always expressed frustration at never having meet the legendary fighter in person. Something that Pit did do, and something Pit reminded him of. Often.

Pit happily sat down, waiting for the return of his brother. It was just good luck that a cardboard box had made its way to the summit.

* * *

**-pit's guidance part pit two-**

A boomerang flew past Palutena. She'd had way too many close calls in this match for her liking. Her opponent, Link, despite being a completely different one then the one she faced last game seemed to be just as determined to beat her as the last one was. Maybe even more.

"Lady Palutena! Do you need my help again?!"

Thanks to Pit's sudden interference Palutena didn't notice that Link rolled a bomb right up to her. With a sly smile, and a safe distance away, Link detonated the bomb.

"Lady Palutena! No!"

The damage wasn't enough to send Palutena flying off stage, but it did hurt. "I'm okay Pit! What is it? If this is about the Switch, I told you already. You can only play for one hour a day. If you play more it'll lock-"

"It's not that! I can help with this fighter, just like I did with Mario!"

"Ah, that's not really necessary!" Palutena said while successfully countering an attack from Link. He was getting real tired of being ignored in favor of whoever Palutena was talking to instead, and instead of playing it safe had decided to just attack upfront. A lot of good that did him.

As for Palutena, she was back in the groove and the last thing she needed was another history lesson while trying to fight.

"Don't worry! I totally got it down this time!" Pit stared closely at the match between Lady Palutena aaaand-

"Hmm." his mood dropped the instant he noticed who it was that Lady Palutena was fighting.

"Pit?"

"Yeah, that's Link." he crossed his arms and leaned back onto Palutena's chair, "Did you know we debuted in the same year Lady Palutena? The same year. But which one of us has the million-dollar franchise? I'll give you one guess Lady Palutena. ONE GUESS WHO'S WORTH MORE LADY PALUTENA THIS ISNT FA-"

Throughout the rest of the match Pit cried out his despair in being ignored for so many years in favor of other series to Palutena, who for some reason or another started fighting Link off better than she was before.

* * *

**-ECHO...echo...ech...oh-**

"Echo fighter..." Pittoo grumbled aloud again.

It was his new official fighter title. For he was no longer just Dark Pit, guy who looks like Pit and fights a lot like Pit. No, he was now Pit's, _'Echo fighter.' _Whatever that meant.

"It means you have to yell whatever I yell!" Pit yelled from behind of him.

"It does not!"

"Well then what does it mean smarty pants?"

Pittoo facepalmed, hard. "It means we're practically the same." before Pit could correct the obviously wrong statement his brother had made Pittoo raised his hand to stop him.

"Don't bother correcting them."

"What? B-But I have to! I'm not gonna stand here and let them call you my clone!"

"Echo fighter." Pittoo corrected him.

"Whatever!" Pit's wings raised themselves up in annoyance. It had already been a chore for both of them to constantly remind the fighters and even the audience that Pittoo was much more than a simple clone. This was a problem for every fighter with a _'clone'_, but for the Angels it went much deeper than that.

By the end of the last tournament Pit and Dark Pit had given up on correcting people, though Pit still tried once in a while.

"At least Echo Fighter sounds cooler than 'clone.'"

"Hey! I thought I was supposed to be the positive one!" Pit laughed. Dark Pit pushed his brother away, a small smile on his face.

* * *

**-did you know birds get dumber the less exercise and stimulation they get-**

"-Have you ever seen Peach and Daisy in the same room at the same time?"

That was the last straw for this Princess. Daisy pointed straight at the Angel and shot back with her own stupid question, "Oh yeah? Have you ever seen yourself and your edgy twin in the same room?!"

Pit jumped slightly, surprised at her question. Daisy smirked, she had him now. Surely that would put the Angel in his place.

Then Pit looked like he was thinking about something. Whatever it was Pit was thinking about he looked like he was thinking very hard about it. For a worrying amount of time.

Daisy lower her shaking hand, "...No. **NO**." This could NOT be happening.

His expression and body language went from expressing deep thought to a look of someone would have if their entire worldview was just shattered from the horrible truth that was just shown to them.

"You have got to be kidding me."

* * *

**-bigger snake theory-**

"Let me piece this together!" Toon Link thought over what the Spirit in front of their small group had just gone over. "You said your name is 'Snake.'" he explained, that was the simplest part to understand so far.

"And the 'Snake' that we know...?His name is Snake...too?" Lucas tried his best to continue the retelling, but he had honestly lost track of the entire story after the part with the bees.

The Spirit in front of them, that looked remarkably like a pirate version of their other friend Snake, nodded.

"This is like mad confusing." Ness tried his best to wrap his head around the story the other Snake had told them. Something about clones, giant robots, and war crimes. To his credit none of his friends had gotten the entire story either.

Toon link pulled his hair in frustration, "Hyaah! This is so confusing! Tell the story again! This time we'll get it!" That would mark the fourth time the Spirit would repeat his life story.

One would probably wonder why a grown man would be telling such a violent story to a bunch of kids but then again this is Big _'never has made a good decision in his life, okay maybe once. Actually no, never mind' _Boss.

At least he was smart enough to omit certain details for them.

"Man, I don't get any of this." Ness sulked, even with the extra explanation they were no closer to understanding why in the world this other Snake looked ALMOST JUST LIKE Snake. "You know, I actually thought they were twins at first!" Lucas said, trying to lighten the mood. "Maybe like, one just was born years earlier..." Lucas stopped to think, "Actually. Never mind."

"That makes about as much sense as anything else he said." Toon Link puffed up his cheeks in anger, "Team! Huddle up!"

The three kids huddled in a group away from the Spirit, who really had nothing better to do.

"Okay team! What have we got so far?" Toon Link whispered to his teammates. If they were going to show up Bowser Jr. and the Inklings by knowing TWO cool tough guys named Snake, they all had to work together towards their goal. "We know they're both named Snake, but that one is a Boss. I think?" Lucas whispered back. That wasnt at all what Toon Link had wanted to hear. "I think even Pit know that Lucas." All three of them looked over to their fourth friend who had been in a trance like state ever since other Snake started his story. Toon Link guessed Pit was just having trouble processing the convoluted story other Snake had told.

"Hey, chill out. We'll just get the story again and pay extra attention this time!" Ness hoped the Spirit was willing to humor them again. Lucas and Toon Link looked at Ness with newfound hope and confidence shining in their eyes. Toon Link smiled and nodded, "Ness is right! With all four of us there's no way we won't understand the story eventually!" Even if they didn't they were still having fun, and isn't that what really mattered?

"Right! We can't give up! We can do this" Toon Link clapped his hands together, "Team friendship meeting over!"

The group broke away from their formation and kindly asked the Spirit to go over his story again. The Spirit grumbled and for a few tense seconds it looked like he wasn't going to tell it again. Fortunately, one look at the despair plastered over the young fighters faces quickly changed his mind.

Other Snake started from the top, the cold war. Which took a bit of time to convince Lucas and Ness was not about ice cream.

This time the story went a lot slower with the trio stopping to ask about more information about a certain thing. Toon Link very interested in hearing about the crocodile hat and wondering if it had any relation to . It got to the point where Lucas had to cover Toon Link's mouth whenever he knew he was about to ask about it.

While the Spirit was telling the story of the time he went meet someone named 'Kass', Pit, who had remained quiet and had been slowly piecing the information that other Snake gave his friends had a brilliant moment of deduction and finally understood everything.

"OH! I get it! He's a taller and bigger version of the Snake we know!"

Pit's friends turned their attention away from the spirt to look at him instead, they were stunned silent. Toon Link was the first to speak up.

"So, we're talking to the same Snake but he's just bigger?"

"Yup!"

All three of them groaned, if all they were doing is talking to the same Snake but just bigger Bowser Jr. and every single one of the Inklings would laugh in their faces. "Maybe we should have stuck to trying to train Rathalos to play fetch." Lucas suggested, so they all went to do just that. Then later they would spend an afternoon in the Hospital.

Meanwhile the Spirit of other Snake made his way over to the Temple of Light.

* * *

**-all credit to my splatoon idol stan friends-**

Pit stood idly by on one of the many buildings of Moray Towers. It wasn't the best view he could have gotten to watch one of Lady Palutena's matches, but it didn't matter as long as he was there to support her.

By screaming as loud as he possibly could.

He sadly waved a small flag with Palutena's face on it, he'd made it himself just the day before and he was hoping to show it off to her during one of her matches. In all her matches so far however, Pit had been too far for Palutena to even notice he'd been holding it and now it seemed like the same thing was going to happen yet again.

"This is her last battle for the day too..." Pit sadly sat down on the edge of the skyscraper, "Oh well, there's always tomorrow."

Suddenly behind him were the loud sounds of running footsteps. Pit's instincts kicked in and he quickly jumped into action.

While he had been expecting a sneak attack from one of the meaner fighters. Again. Instead he was greeted by a pair of Newcomers, specifically the kid and squid ones. Because of the massive size of the newest tournament Pit still hadn't quite meet every new fighter that had joined. Something past Pit would be ashamed of.

"{Sup'!}" they happily greeted Pit in unison.

"Hi...?" no wonder he'd never talked to them before! He had no idea what they were saying!

The squid kids were covered in head to toe with all kinds of different accessories, headbands, t-shirts, jackets, arm bands. You name it they were wearing it. On all of them were the familiar images of Callie and Marie, the Squid Sisters. Pit had become quite acquainted with them after many of his matches ended up with him too distracted by their music to notice Ganondorf raising his sword right next to him.

"Wow. You guys must really like the Squid Sisters huh?"

The pair of kid squids gasped, they held their mouths open for a abnormally large time while they exchanged their surprised looks with each other.

"{Shell yeah! Another Squid Sister stan! Noice!}" the blue squid waved his glowsticks excitedly, nearly missing hitting his friend in the process. But the way she quickly dodged Pit assumed she was used it.

"{OMG! You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find somebody around here who has TASTE!}"

The squid kids both took ahold of Pit's arm, one for each of them. "Woah! Wait! Wait!" he was caught off guard and easily swept off his feet. The pair sat him down where he had been sitting before, sandwiching Pit in between them. "{I'm Inky and this dude is Inked!}" the orange squid on his left said smiling a large pointy-toothed smile, "{It's nice to meet you dude! You're 'Puppet', right?}"

Pit nervously looked away to his right and was meet the other kid, the blue one. "{Show the Squid Sisters already!}" he shouted toward the direction of the stage, waving his glowsticks widly in the air.

"I really wish I could understand what you guys are saying."

The blue squid pointed towards the battlefield, "{We're here to peep the match!}"

Pit followed to where his finger was pointing and saw that Kirby, Mega Man, Duck Hunt and Lady Palutena had finally all entered the arena. Lady Palutena had warped in on the left side of the map, at least he thought that was her. He was still pretty far from the stage so it was awfully hard to tell if the large Palutena shaped person was her.

But it probably was.

"Three...Two...One..."

A voice announced that the battle was about to start, Pit looked at his flag and then back to Lady Palutena. He prayed that this time she would be able to see it.

"GO!"

All the fighters took off and the battle was underway. Lady Palutena was doing well, all things considered. Kirby seemed to be more interested in trying to steal Mega Man's ability then fighting anyone else, which made Mega Man more focused on trying to avoid Kirby than fighting. That let Palutena to deal with Duck Hunt. The duo looked to be having a lot of trouble with her combination counter and reflect.

Before Pit could open his mouth to cheer on his Goddess the two squids sitting beside him screamed. Very loudly. "{YO! FORGET THESE SQUARES! BRING OUT THE SQUID SISTERS!}" the two were in perfect sync, it was easy to see they did this sort of thing very often.

Pit could hardly believe just how loud they were. Whoever they were cheering for would definitely hear them. He turned his attention back to the match and noticed that almost all of the fighters, save for Lady Palutena, had turned their heads to face them. "She didn't even hear that?" Pit sulked down into himself, "If she didn't hear them there's no way she'll hear me..." Pit looked away from the match and looked straight down into the draw distanced fog below. He had completely given up.

Inky noticed Pit's sudden mood shift and stopped her cheering. She stretched her arm behind Pit to get the attention of her best friend. "{Psst! Hey Inked!}" Inked stopped his insistent cheering for once, Inky hadn't expected it to be so easy. "{What up?}" without saying anything Inky pointed to their new friend seated between them.

"{Woah, what's got him down?}"

"{No idea! But like dude we gotta cheer him up!}"

Helping to cheer up someone you just meet would probably not be a thing that most people would do. But then again, squids were not most people. Especially if they were united in being fans of the Squid Sisters.

To get Pit's attention Inky gave him a friendly jab in his ribs, which definitely got his attention.

"OW! W-What is it?!" Pit rubbed his side, he was still a little sore from his battle against Richter yesterday. Inky nervously smiled, truth be told she hadn't planned this far ahead. She knew Pit couldn't understand them so how the sheck were they going to make this work?!

"{Inky! Check out his hand!}"

Inky glanced down to look at Pit's hand. He was holding a small flag, it sort of looked like he had made it himself. There was nothing too special about it but in the middle of the flag was the sloppily drawn face of Palutena herself. Both squids looked at each other and nodded, they figured it out!

"{You're like here to cheer on you MOM?! Wow, that's kinda lame.}" Inky said giggling along with Inked. Despite being determined to help him out, they couldn't help but laugh at just how unfresh their new friend was. It was clear he had a lot to learn but it wouldn't hurt to help him with just one embarrassing thing.

Luckily for Pit, none of their other friends were around to see.

"Are...Are you guys laughing at me?"

Inky and Inked didn't bother answering his question, he wouldn't understand anyway. What Pit did understand the action of both kids grabbed his arms and pulling him up. "Woah! What's going on ?!" Pit was really confused now. Just what did they want with him?

"PLAYER 2. DEFEATED. PLAYER 1. DEFEATED."

Pit and the squid's attention were drawn back into the match. It looked like both Duck Hunt and Mega Man had been launched out, that only left Lady Palutena and Kirby to fight it out. It was still anyone's match!

Knowing they only had a little bit of time left Inked handed Inky one of his spare glowsticks. With glowsticks in hands both squids waved them in a desperate attempt to get Pit's attention.

"Huh? I'm sorry I can't..."

Then a few of the glowsticks changed from purple to a familiar shade of green.

"Palutena! Palutena! Palutenaaaa!" the squids screamed as loud as they could, waving their glowsticks as hard as they could.

"I get it now! You're trying to help me!" the Inklings nodded, still screaming Palutena's name. Pit had no idea how they knew he was here to cheer on Lady Palutena, but he wasn't about to turn down their help now. Especially when he knew just how loud they were able to yell.

"Right! With the three of us there's no way Lady Palutena can't hear us!" Pit waved his little flag in time with Inky and Inked's many glowsticks. All three of them were in perfect unison now.

"PALUTENA! PALUTENA! PALUTENA!"

"LADY PALUTENA! LADY PALUTENA! LADY PALUTENA!"

Or at least Inky and Inked were. Pit had the spirit at least.

Their yelling was so loud Kirby couldn't help but take a curious glace at who in the world could be shouting. Which left them wide open for a smash attack.

"Goddess wings!"

Kirby was sent soaring through the air and out of bounds, landing safely in the safety net down below.

**"GAME"**

Palutena leaned on her staff for support. That match had been exhausting, Duck Hunt Dog had really given her a run for her money. She taken so many hits from them she was sure Kirby would easily defeat her. Good thing he'd been distracted by...by what?

There was a familiar ringing in her ears, something that sounded like someone calling her name.

Finally, she turned to face the building where Pit was cheering along with his new friends. "Is that Pit?" she looked closely and noticed that in Pit's hand was a tiny, almost impossible to notice flag. With her face on it. "Oh...Pit." she waved at him, letting him know that he had gotten her attention.

Pit's face instantly lit up, "She noticed! She noticed!" he bounced up and down in celebration, Inky and Inked couldn't resist joining in. "{We did it Inky! Up top!}" the best friends high-fived each other for a job well done.

"Pit!" Palutena very loudly yelled from the stage. Pit immediately stopped his victory dance to look over to her. "Yes Lady Palutena?" he was eager to hear what she thought of his latest project. Just as Palutena was about to respond back however, she was teleported away to the winner's celebration along with the losers. It looked like Pit would have to wait a little bit more to ask Lady Palutena if she liked his flag.

"Oh well. At least she saw it!"

It most likely take a while for Pit to find his way back to Lady Palutena. So in the meantime he turned to the Newcomers that against all odds had manage to find a way to help him, "How could I ever thank you? If there's something I can do for you just ask and I'll be happy to help! No matter what!"

Inky and Inked looked at each other and they both knew what had to be done. They had to ask the ultimate question, a question that would determine Pit's fate and destiny even if he didn't know it yet.

"Are you guys okay? You look really serious all of a sudden" Pit was suddenly very nervous about what they were about to ask of him.

Inky, Callie Queen and Inked, Marie King stood at Pit's left and right. If Pit was to be their new friend, there was something that had to be set straight. And so, together they asked the all-important question ...

"{Which Squid Sister would you die for?}"

Pit could still not understand either of them.

* * *

**-pits guidance part three, these aren't jokes i made on twitter already-**

Palutena's latest match was not going well.

She was up against The Hero, one of the newest fighters to be added to the roster. So her knowledge on them was practically nonexistent. She had no plans, no previous experience and no strategy on how to fight back.

There had always been these types of fighters, that was true. But this Hero guy seemed way more unpredictable and hard-to-read then the rest. Palutena had nearly lost the last round because she almost got caught in an attack they called 'Kamikaze', a powerful attack that came at the cost of eliminating themselves.

Why anyone would ever want to do that was anyone's guess. And why she gave him time to choose a spell was also anyone's guess.

"Lady Palutena!"

As if on cue, Hero finished picking one of his spells. Which turned him to metal, impervious to almost any attack!

"Uh-huh..." at least that gave Palutena sometime to answer back, "What is it this time Pit?"

Meanwhile in Palutena's temple, Pit happily sat in her oversized chair. The empty space proved to be a perfect place to place snacks to eat while watching Lady Palutena's exciting matches, and it was still a good place to give her helpful advice from!

The fighter she was facing looked...unfamiliar to him. Pit didn't recognize them at all, were they new? Or maybe...

"Oh!" he recognized them! How could anyone not know, it's so obvious now in hindsight.

"It's Goku."

Palutena's heart dropped and it wasn't because The Hero was finally released from their metal state.

"Really Pit? Really?! You're using the Goku joke? That's the best you could come up with? I raised you better than this didn't I?! Is it my fault, it's me I knew it. My material has gotten stale hasn't it?!"

"Wait is that not-?"

Throughout the rest of the very short match Palutena wept over the loss of her comedic timing and jokes to a very confused Pit, and The Hero accidentally zoomed off the stage right after turning back from being metal.

* * *

**-seraphic chicken—**

Pit grew tense as the group of Spirits hovering around him continued to grow in numbers, and curiosity.

From his point of view the Spirits a looked like absolutely horrifying monsters. Their wings looked metallic, their legs looked like they belonged more on a bird than on them, and their faces...he couldn't see any faces on them! The bigger of the Spirits that approached him looked even scarier! One looked like a large blood covered snake and the other looked like a pair of dragons. _**A pair of dragons held together by the statue of a human face!**_

If Lady Palutena was to be believed (and she always is) these terrifying monsters were supposed to be Angels. Angels that exclusively lived in Bayonetta's world. Dimension? Plane of existence? Whatever. They were from Bayonetta's games.

After getting a good look at them, he couldn't fully blame Bayonetta for always fighting them.

Along with seeing them, he could also hear them talk. He had no idea if they were talking to him or to each other, but whatever they were saying sounded like complete gibberish to Pit. Whatever it was they were really saying, he hoped they weren't secretly making fun of him.

The Spirits of the Angels moved closer to Pit, staring right at him. At least, Pit thought they were. "H-Hey?" he nervously waved at them. It was the first time he'd spoken to the Angels since they were first saved. The Angels were silent. _'Oh no. I didn't make them mad, did I?!' _That was the last thing Pit wanted to do. Had they not understood what he said just like he couldn't understand them? Maybe they were just mad that he was way more handsome than any of them would ever be. Yeah, that was probably it.

Before Pit could think of another unrealistic reason the Angels of Paradiso would hate his guts, they defied his expectations and suddenly erupted into cheers. Or what Pit thought a celebration would sound like coming from a group of monstrous Angels.

Did they...Did they like him?

It was too bad he still had no clue what they were saying. On the bright side it looked like they could understand him. Somehow.

"Making friends with your own kind little one?"

Pit gulped, he knew that voice anywhere. The source of his more recent nightmares and the one reason he was hesitant to come back to Smash Bros. "Bayonetta..." she stood in front of him, looking as confident and terrifying as ever. As if things couldn't get any scarier.

Then, to Pit's shock, the Spirits of the Angels began to group up in front of him, until Bayonetta disappeared and all he could see was the colorful smoke that came off Spirits. "What the-?" he could hear the group of Angels saying something but once again he had no possible way of understanding what they were talking about. He did catch Bayonetta's name once or twice, were they talking to her?

"I don't know if you can still hear me back there-"

"Oh, I can!" Pit quickly covered his mouth, _'Why did I say that?! Now she s gonna kill me!'_

Bayonetta smirked, Pit was just too easy to mess with, "-but it seems like your new friends are awfully fond of you and I'd be lying if I said you don't fit right in."

Pit could have sworn he heard the Angels growl. Considering their looks Pit wasn't all too surprised and he'd be lying if he said it wasn't kind of flattering. Especially since Lady Palutena wasn't here to protect him from Bayonetta, he would take any help he could get.

"I would watch my steps around them if I were you."

Pit involuntary reached for his weapon. Nothing about Bayonetta's words hinted that she was going to fight him but something in his gut told him to be prepared.

Bayonetta continued, "After all, Angels are a mischievous bunch."

Pit heard the sound of her terrifying gun-heels clicking along the floor, it sounded like she was finally leaving them alone. Good! She should stay away from him, and Pittoo, and Lady Palutena!

The spirits of the Angels finally began to disperse from their group and Pit could finally see in front of him again.

"Uh...Thanks?" he wasn't sure if they had done that to be nice or what, but they did protect him from Bayonetta so of course he had to thank them for that. The Angels once again began to speak to him. Pit wished there was some way to communicate with them, or at least tell them that he couldn't understand them.

He was glad they were happy though. Probably. He would hate to see them angry at him.

As the Spirits continued their attempts to talk to their fellow Angel, Pit was still thinking on one thing Bayonetta had said before leaving.

_"-I'd be lying if I said you don't fit right in."_

"What did she mean by that?"

He couldn't help but wonder, did he look like a monster to Bayonetta?

* * *

**-original fatal frame 2 can stay BUT FIVE and the remake. ARE OUTTA HERE-**

An abandoned mansion was not the sort of place Pit thought he would be spending his morning in. Actually, it wasn't the sort of place Pit ever wanted to be in.

One minute he had been spending an afternoon practicing archery with Pittoo, then the next thing he knew he found himself wandering off and getting lost.

The worst part was that Pit couldn't even remember why he left. Then a crimson butterfly fluttered close to him and flew off. _'That's right...'_ he remembered, _'I went off chasing that really weird butterfly, kinda dumb now that I think about it...' _

Now thanks to that butterfly Pit was lost inside of an abandoned house. The same abandoned house that Marth swore was haunted when his team was sent in to investigate. Most of the fighters laughed off his claim as him exaggerating._ "Well DUH there's Spirits! There's Spirits everywhere einstein!"_ Falco had boldly proclaimed.

Falco did have a point. There were Spirits everywhere, so maybe there were some here that could help Pit find his way home! After all, most Spirits were glad to lend a helping hand, if they weren't the Spirits of someone really mean of course.

"Hello?" Pit yelled, an echo rang through the house, "Are there any Spirits in here?"

There was a sudden noise behind him, Pit quickly looked back but there was nothing there. "Is someone there?!" he walked closer to where he'd heard the noise. Maybe someone was hiding and playing a trick on him? That would be mean, but it wouldn't be the first time he would be at the end of a prank. "B-Bowser Jr. if that's you again you better quit it! I'm gonna tell your dad you're being mean again!" then again last time he did that all Bowser did was laugh and congratulate his son on a job well done, not the outcome Pit wanted at all. Then the two of team teamed up and kicked him off Mario Circuit.

Another spooky scary noise caused Pit to jump up and shriek. This time the sudden noise came from right in front of him. A small object had fallen off a nearby bookshelf and settled at his feet. Pit looked down and was surprised to see a small red necklace, _'How did this little thing make that big noise?'_

Something inside Pit was screaming at him to pick it up. For some reason he needed it.

As Pit reached his hand out to pick it up, he heard a voice.

_"Hello?"_

"ACK!" Pit jumped back, he wasn't sure where the voice came from but whatever, or whoever it was wouldn't make him wait long to find out.

In front of Pit a transparent mist began to appear. A mix of colorful vapors began to circle around the mysterious piece of jewelry, levitating it up until it disappeared into the mist itself. Pit could only stare as a transparent image of a girl slowly began to appear in the middle. The girl had short black hair and from what Pit could see of her outfit she wore a brown dress adored with a pretty red bow.

There was no doubt about it now, Pit had found himself a Spirit. He didn't even have to fight it, what luck!

...That didn't make this entire situation any less creepy though.

The Angel and Spirit stood (floated?) in silence for several seconds. Until the Spirit herself decided to break the ice.

_"My name is Mayu. What's yours?"_

"Uh it's P-Pit. Nice to meet you?" he reached out his hand to shake hers. When he felt nothing but cold air, he quickly retracted his hand back, "Oh, wait! You're a Spirit so I guess you don't have hands! I'm sorry..."

_"Sorry for what?" _Mayu shrugged,_ "I'm used to it."_ That was weird, most Spirits Pit meet flipped out once they realized they had gone from living breathing beings to nothing but a cloud of colorful smoke. This Mayu person seemed perfectly content with her sad state, pretty weird if you asked him.

_"What brings you here? Pit?" _

Her voice was strangely monotone but at the same time it helped calm Pit down, if she wasn't freaking out then surely they couldn't be in any danger, right?

Right?

"Ha, well I know its gonna sound dumb but..." he was going to say that he couldn't remember what had brought him here, but that was a lie. He knew why he was here. The problem was he couldn't remember _why_ he had followed some red butterfly to a mansion that had been already searched for Spirits weeks ago. "I came here cause I followed a bright red butterfly! Maybe you've seen them around?" he frowned, trying to think of any possible reason why he would chase one, "I...I don't actually know why I did that, but hey if I hadn't I wouldn't have found you!"

He couldn't wait to get back to the team and show off that he had found a spirit that Marth's team missed, they would so proud!

While Pit was busy thinking of how his teammates would throw him in the air while shouting 'Pit! Pit! This is it!' Mayu was busy completely ignoring Pit's words. Except for one little thing. _"A red butterfly...?"_ she smiled. The kind of playful smile that would instantly unnerve anyone that saw it, but Pit wasn't one to pay attention to small details.

Pit was brought back down to earth, "Yeah! You've seen them around?" curiosity shined in his eyes, maybe this Spirit would know why they were around the mansion and why Pit wanted to chase them around so badly.

_"I have. I'm very familiar with them." _

"Woah! So, you're like a butterfly expert! Cooool! Can you tell me about them?"

Before either of the two could say anything else a loud chime rang throughout the abandoned home. The clock's chime managed to remind Pit of a crucial detail he couldnt believe he forgot about, "Oh no! How long have I been gone?! Pittoo's gonna be so mad I ditched him!" Pit looked around for a quick exit but everywhere he looked he was meet with never ending hallways and odd furniture. Not to mention he had to get him and the Spirit out safely, he really had his worked cut out for him.

_"Pit-two?"_ Mayu asked, throughout Pit's freak-out she managed to keep her composure. Thanks to her calm demeanor Pit calmed down, just a bit. "Y-Yeah he's like my twin. He was born after I...actually it's a long story so I'm gonna stick with twin." there was no time to waste with life stories now what was he thinking?

_"Oh?"_ Mayu's smile grew larger, _"You have a twin too?"_

"Yup! -And he s gonna be mad if I don't-!" Pit stopped, his mind rewinding what Mayu had just said, "Wait. you have a twin? Are they trapped here with you?!" he couldn't just leave another poor Spirit trapped in here by themselves, and he definitely couldn't take one twin and leave the other behind, that was just evil!

He was beginning to think that Marth's team hadn't explored the manor at all.

Mayu still smiled, but Pit felt it was more of a sad smile. _"Yes, I do."_ Mayu looked directly at Pit, her stare cutting right through him, _"We promised she would never leave me behind. She would never break that promise."_

Pit didn't feel like bringing up that he hadn't seen any sign of any other Spirit the entire time he'd been here. If she really did promise that then wouldn't she be nearby?

_"Mio's always nice to me, even when I'm not. I don't know how she does it..."_

Wow, the way Mayu was describing her twin made her sound like the nicest person in the world. _'It must be nice being able to always get along...'_ he thought, Pit couldn't help but feel a tad bit jealous.

_"Do you fight with Pit-two often?" _

Pit flinched, was it that easy to tell? "Well...we don't always get along. I mean we do like each other! W-We're friends, we do a lot of fun stuff together! but..."

_"But...?"_

"...We're not always on the same page. Sometimes we fight. A lot."

Most of their fights would range from arguing over who got to have the last slice of pizza to the consequences that would follow if Pit decided to follow his desire for freedom and leave Skyworld to live for himself and make his own decisions. Simple stuff like that.

_"I...see." _

Pit wasn't sure why he was blabbing his feelings to the Spirit of someone he just meet, but something in him just felt that he could trust this Spirit.

_"If you like, I can help you get along with them."_

"What?"

From the brief description of Mayu and Mio's relationship he had heard it sounded like they were the perfect twins. A pair of siblings who rarely argued, who did everything together, who were nice to each other, who were always together, who were always together, who were always together, who were always

Even though Mayu's offer sounded like a dream come true, Pit was a bit skeptical, "Is that really a thing you can teach someone?"

Mayu laughed, _"Of course! Me and Mio didn't always get along so well, you know. It took a lot of hard work!"_ her Spirit floated closer to Pit. _"And now I can teach you!"_

The thought was nice but...

...But nothing! that sounded great!

"Could you really do all that?! Mayu that sounds amazing!"

Mayu smiled and held out her transparent hand, _"Then just come with me. I'll explain everything!"_

A large group of crimson butterflies gathered all around them, but Pit's mind was elsewhere. All he was fixated on was following Mayu and finding out how he could get Pittoo to like hanging out with him more. If he could do that maybe Pittoo fight with him anymore, maybe Pittoo wouldn't run ahead of him and leave him to fall behind anymore.

He held out his hand, ready to go with her.

At that moment there was a bright flash. It was so bright Pit and Mayu couldn't cover their faces fast enough, they were both blinded by the sudden light.

"What the?!"

The next thing Pit knew he was on the ground still covering his eyes. He couldn't see anything, but he could hear all sorts of voices all around him. They were all voices he couldn't recognize.

_"Mayu! Stop this!"_

_"Mio?!"_

That was until a lone voice called out from the darkness.

"Pit! You idiot!"

That was Pittoo. Pit carefully opened his eyes, expecting to be hit by the same blinding light as he had been just seconds before. To his relief instead of a light there was his brother standing over him, looking visibly upset.

"What were you thinking?! You've had some dumb ideas before but I never thought you would run straight into an actual haunted house!"

"Huh?"

Pit slowly stood up and finally got a good look at where he was.

All the furniture that had once surrounded the room he was in was gone, and the hallways he had walked in were long gone as well. All that remained was an empty room where the walls were so close to falling apart Pit could practically see the forest outside. Maybe that's how Pittoo found him so easily?

"You're lucky I found you when I did." Pit stared up at his brother, his face showing a rare emotion of concern, "If it wasn't for that Spirit and her camera..."

"Spirit?"

Pittoo gestured in front of himself and Pit turned his head to see what he was pointing at. Fighting in the wreckage of the mansion were two Spirits. He recognized one as Mayu but he'd never seen the other one before. She did look an awful lot like Mayu though.

_"What were you thinking?! Would you stop trying to play tricks on everyone you meet!"_

_"Miooo I was only trying to help!"_

_"You call playing pranks like this helping?!"_

Pit looked back at his twin, "Is that Mio?" he asked quietly, hoping to not interrupt the arguing sisters.

"I think that's what she said her name was. She's the one who told me you were in trouble." Pittoo crossed his arms, "I mean, I could found you on my own, but I guess her dumb camera did help." In his hands he held an oddly shaped camera, it was square and looked really old. It was a miracle it still worked.

_"Ah, Dark Pit!"_ Mio called out to the dark Angel. Both Angels turned their attention to her.

"What's up now?"

Both sisters had finally stopped fighting, settling their differences with Mio locking Mayu in a soft headlock._ "I just wanted to apologize for the trouble Mayu caused."_ she looked at Pit, clear sadness in her eyes, _"Mostly for you."_

A lone red butterfly landed on Pit's head. Dark Pit quickly shooed it away.

Still in her sister's headlock, Mayu pouted, _"Pfft, spoilsport!" _

All she was going to do was push him down the stairs. After all, the Twin Ceremony wasn't until each twin turned fifteen.

* * *

**-quarrel with the doppelganger-**

Late at night and far away from the eyes of Palutena and Pit, Dark Pit walked all the way to the outskirts of the Reset Bomb Forest. Surely no one would bother him and his important meeting partner there. Once he felt he had gone far enough he opened his hands and released the Spirit he'd smuggled all the way here.

The bubbly green spirit took off flying in all sorts of different directions, curious as to where in the Underworld he was now.

"Hey. Hey! Calm down will you?" the Spirit turned to face the Angel. They look almost surprised to see them there. "Listen I know you're excited that you're...sorta flying, but maybe try flying closer to me?"

The green Spirit hesitated a bit before moving again. It took a second but eventually they listened to Dark Pit and started flying closer to him, until they were finally face-to-face. From this angle Dark Pit was finally able to see the semi-transparent face of a much younger Pit.

This version of Pit was small, smaller than Dark Pit expected. He wore a simple white tunic, was armed with a dinky wooden bow, and his hair was much fluffier than the Pit that he knew. It was a weird feeling, seeing what Pit looked like when he first saved Angel Land from Medusa. ...And some guy Dark Pit was pretty sure was named Orca.

The younger Pit, despite remaining stationary was still trying his best to look around at all the different new sights around him.

"I didn't bring you here to sight see Pitstain." Dark Pit was losing his patience, despite all this being his idea.

The young spirit looked at him in shock, then frowned. "It's not nice to call Angels mean names..."

Dark Pit shifted his gaze from the sad Angel. No matter what his intention was he hadn't meant to make the poor kid cry, only a monster would do that. "Right. Sorry about that."

Pit flashed a wide smile, he was missing a few teeth here and there. "Oh-kay! I forgive you!"

With that issue out of the way Dark Pit could finally do what he had been planning for weeks, back when he first caught a glimpse of a spirit of the small Angel floating around.

He was finally going to get to the bottom of things.

When Pittoo looked back at his 'younger' brother he was looking around excitedly again. Pittoo had no idea what time period this Pit was snatched out of, but it was clearly from a time where Pit was still excited about simple things. Like a brick wall.

Dark Pit cleared his throat to get his attention, "So what's your name?"

"Pit." he answered looking up at the night sky with a curious look on his face.

A simple and to the point answer, but they were only just getting started. Dark Pit could only hope the next few questions he had in mind would be as easy as the first.

"Okay next ques-"

"What are those things up there?" Pit pointed upwards to the stars, tracing his transparent hand around a group of them.

'_Hey, who's asking the questions here?'_ despite Dark Pit's one-track mind towards his goal he couldn't help but look up to see what Pit was looking at. It was a group of stars forming a small galaxy, it wasn't that strange to see around here considering there was a space Goddess living among them.

"Those are stars." Dark Pit thought about his next words very carefully. "You...You have seen stars before, right?"

Pit shook his head, "Nuh-uh!"

That was concerning, to say the least. From the many restless nights Dark Pit had spent in Skyworld he knew that the stars shined brighter there than anywhere else. So then how did Pit, who to his knowledge never left Skyworld, not know what stars are?

"Stars come at night~ I don't go outside at night~ night is danger-bus for small Angels~" Pit happily sang to himself as he moved from side to side, his eyes still staring up at the stars.

Dark Pit's first concern was wondering if their twin connection ran so deep that even a young Pit could tell what he was thinking and how he was feeling. His second was wondering why Pit was happily singing about how he wasn't allowed outside at night.

"Explain."

"Hmm?" Pit turned his head to look at a small plant growing inside a wall, but to Pittoo it looked like he was just staring at another wall.

"Why is it 'danger-bus' for small Angels?" Pittoo knew Pit had probably meant 'dangerous' but for the sake of keeping things simple he played along.

"Cause cause cause-!" Pit looked around everywhere. However, this time it wasn't with curiosity. He looked like he was afraid of seeing something he didn't want to. Slowly he floated closer to where Dark Pit stood and whispered softly, "Cause night is when bad stuff comes out. Like Medusa."

"Medusa?"

"SHHH! They're gonna hear you!" Pit tried his best to cover Dark Pit's mouth, but being a Spirit meant he could only make Dark Pit feel a little colder around his face.

On the other hand, that also meant Dark Pit couldn't swat him away. "Hey! Calm down, Medusa isn't even here!" Dark Pit's words were meant to calm his brother down, but from the look Pit gave him it had the opposite desired effect.

"No! Stop **STOP**! A bad guys gonna hear you talkin' about her and then...**and then-!"** Pit's ghostly image cowered down and covered his head. He went so low that all Dark Pit could see of the scared Angel was the top of his fluffy hair. Dark pit could hear his twin muttering to himself, but he was talking so fast and quiet it was impossible to decipher what he was saying. Whatever it was it wasn't good.

Okay, it was time to switch subjects, and fast.

"Uh, so what's your favorite color?" it wasn't the best question he could have asked but it was the quickest one he thought of.

Pit peeked up from his makeshift hiding spot, his messy hair hiding all but one of his eyes. "You're just trying to make me feel better!" Dark Pit had to give his brother credit, he was smarter than he looked. At least back then he was.

Still a little shaken up Pit stood and grabbed the bow that had been on his back. "I know I gotta be tough! I gotta do it for the Great Palutena...but...I'm no good at fighting..." he sadly pulled on the bowstring as if were a toy instead of a deadly weapon, "She said I'm the only one that can save her but I don't know..."

Dark Pit nodded and let Pit keep talking.

His blabbermouth of a 'little' brother had already answered one of his questions without meaning to. This Pit had been taken from his first adventure in the Underworld, and from the way he spoke it must have been early in his adventure.

"Everything is so scary and...and the Underworld is so dark, and all the bad guys keep hitting me and pushing me down!" he looked at his weapon, closely examining it. "The Great Palutena gave me this to fight but I hit and hit and hit **and it doesn't work!**" Dark Pit heard the sound of the weapon hitting the floor, but whatever ground it had actually hit wasn't visible to him.

Pit wiped at his eyes, "I just wanna go home! **I don't wanna do this!**"

His brother was weeping now, something Dark Pit hadn't accounted for when he decided to talk to him. In hindsight though he should have.

The older angel shuffled uncomfortably as the sobs of his twin grew louder in the quiet of the night. He racked his mind for anything he could say that would calm him down. He could tell him what he wanted to hear, tell Pit that he didn't have to fight for Palutena. Dark Pit desperately wanted to hug the Spirit and tell him that he did have a choice in the matter. Tell him that instead of fighting for Palutena he could find somewhere safe to hide to wait for Medusa's rampage to end. At least that way Pit wouldn't have to fight anymore.

But Dark Pit couldn't lie to him like that.

He knew from the fuzzy memories he shared with Pit and from Palutena herself that the younger version of Pit was telling the truth. Pit really was Palutena's last hope, her last Angel.

If Pit had decided to think of himself instead of putting all his effort into saving Palutena the world he and Pit lived in would have never existed. Medusa would probably be ruling the world and Pit would have meet his end some other way, then neither Pit nor Dark Pit would exist.

It didn't matter what either Angel wanted, saving Palutena was the only way they were going to continue living.

However, to one Angel the other would be living for all the wrong reasons.

Dark Pit swallowed hard and looked at his brother. Pit had stopped sobbing now and was now just sadly sniffling. Some tears still fell from his eyes, but he'd managed to calm himself down.

_'No thanks to me.'_ Pittoo clenched his fists, his nails threatening to break skin.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"It's fine. It's my fault." Dark Pit's apology came as a surprise to Pit, and himself.

"Oh. Okay."

Pit was still a little fidgety even after Pittoo's apology, he looked down and continued mindlessly pulling on his bow's bowstring. Pittoo thought it would be best to quickly change the subject. he hoped that this Pit was as scatterbrained as his Pit, that would make things easier.

He took a deep breath, hopefully he wouldn't regret this. "Have you heard of Angel Land?" Dark Pit asked.

Pit gasped, nearly dropping his bow again. His frown quickly turned back into the grin that Pittoo thought he'd never see again. "That's where I live!" his small wings happily flapped behind him.

"Do you now?" a small chuckle escaped from Pittoo's faint smile. He didn't notice it of course but it seemed that Pit's enthusiasm started to rub off on him, if only a little. "M-hmm!" Pit quickly nodded, messing up his already messed up hair. "I have lots of friends there! Like the gardener and...and..." Pit looked down, grabbing his head with both hands. His face slowly contorted into a pained expression and his eyes grew dull.

"Pit-?" Something was wrong.

"I'm really tired..."Pit's eyes closed shut, then the image of the young Angel slowly began to fade away.

"Pit!" panicked thoughts flooded Dark Pit's mind. Was Pit fading away!? Was this his fault?! Was he going to slowly disappear too?!

The green spirit shrunk back down into itself, reverting into the simple shape of a small completely solid green orb. It was the same shape that Dark Pit first found the spirit in when he decided to explore the dungeons of Palutena's temple.

Dark Pit quickly held out his hands to catch the spirit, scared that it would instantly drop to the ground now that it was a solid shape. To his relief, the small Spirit slowly flew into Dark Pit's hands.

"I'm sorry." there was no way that Pit could have heard his apology, but he hoped that somehow through their connection he could feel just how remorseful he really was.

That was enough questions for now.

* * *

**-one final pit's guidance for the road-**

Palutena and Pit looked at the image of the newcomer that had been plastered over Smashville's bulletin board.

"What's his name Lady Palutena?" the mysterious newcomer wore a red cap and a vest. The man even had cool long blonde hair! Pit took great pride in knowing his video game characters and trivia, so whenever someone showed up that he had never heard of he was always dying to know more about them!

Except for Bayonetta, that one had been a huge mistake.

"Well-." Palutena read the announcement aloud for him, "-It says here his name is 'Terry Bogard'. He's from a series of fighting games known as 'Fatal Fury'. Apprently they're incredibly popular!"

_'Incredibly popular...'_ out of everything Lady Palutena said it was that phrase that stuck out the most to him.

"Odd since I've never heard of them...but it's fun learning new things! Isn't it Pit?" she smiled at him. Sure, she didn't have a clue on how to fight him yet but if the other fighters were anything to go by, she would collect their info and think of fighting strategies eventually. She hoped Pit would understand the reason for the wait this time instead of crying over not knowing how to dodge Banjo's ramming attack.

"Lady Palutena?"

"Yes Pit?"

"Would wearing a hat help make me more popular?

Throughout the entire wait for Terry's arrival Pit would try on various types of hats before getting bored of wearing them by the end of the day.

Leaving Palutena with a lot of extra hats.

* * *

**-brace for impact-**

"Pika-Pit!"

Dark Pit turned around to see his twin hugging a Pikachu. A Pikachu that he was positive was not the elusive 'Pika-Pit'. Considering the poor Pokémon looked just as confused as Dark Pit was.

"Pit." Pit ignored Dark Pit and kept squeezing the poor Pikachu. They looked like they were about to electrocute him any second. Dark Pit thought about just letting it happen, but it was probably for the best if he stopped it before it got out of hand.

"Pit!" That got Pit's attention.

"Pittoo look!" he held up the Pikachu, an annoyed look plastered over her face, "I found Pika-Pit! She was here the whole time!" Pittoo rolled his eyes, this happened every time Pit saw a Pikachu. Heck, it happened every time Pit happened to see the same Pikachu. Turns out he couldn't tell the difference between one Pikachu and the same Pikachu wearing a hat.

"Pitstain! How many times do we have to tell you?!" Pit looked at him, still smiling and hugging the Pikachu. "Tell me what?"

Pittoo thought about what he would say next. He didn't want to upset Pit and potentially have an angry Palutena after him, but he mostly didn't want to break Pit's heart.

But that Pikachu looked awfully angry.

"...Pika-Pit is still at Poke-Ranch remember? That place that definitely is still open."

* * *

**-what's a life without meaning?-**

_"We'll win this! I know we will!"_

Pit had said this with such confidence that even he believed his own boast, but the truth was that Pit was terrified. Not even Zelda's battle cry had been enough to 'stow his fear.'

He looked behind him to try and find where his brother and Lady Palutena had been placed.

Dark Pit had taken up a position near the back of the group, something that had taken quite a bit to convince him to do. There wasn't any real reason he was chosen for the job. In reality the position could have gone to anyone. He was just unlucky he wasn't picked to be at the front lines, unlike Pit.

Who wanted nothing more than to be besides his brother right now.

During deployment Pit had lost track of where Lady Palutena had gone. That was what scared him the most. How could he protect her if he couldn't see her? Could she see him? He thought about asking Marth if he knew where Lady Palutena was, but he never got the chance to even consider it for more than a second.

Before everything went wrong.

The next few seconds felt like nothing to Pit.

One minute he was staring down an army of Master Hands, then very next he was feeling tears stream down his cheeks. Lady Palutena gently held his face in her loving hands, smiling sadly at him. He felt the Power of Flight course through his wings and suddenly he was getting farther and farther away from Lady Palutena.

He wanted to scream. To beg her to stop. Instead nothing came out. All he could do was reach out his hand in vain hoping that she would read what was inside his heart and bring him back to her.

Now he was up in the air flying away, his brother next to him. He knew Dark Pit was saying something to him but for the life of him he couldn't understand anything he was saying.

All he could hear was the sound of the light.

Pit could do nothing but watch as the friends he'd made over the years got reduced to nothing but dust at the hands of the new mysterious enemy they had dared to face.

Lady Palutena was in danger. She was in danger and he wasn't there!

Pittoo gave up trying to talk to Pit. Regardless of his opinion on Palutena he hated what she was making them do as much as Pit did but for a completely different reason.

Dark Pit hated running away.

He was there that day on the cliff to finish the fight. He knew he was strong enough so why did Palutena make him retreat? His eyes caught the sight of Mario trying to protect his younger brother, Luigi, before being hit by a beam of light. Then they were both gone.

Pittoo grit his teeth. Palutena was right, they were all outmatched.

Not noticing his twins' distress, Pit took one last look behind him to see Lady Palutena. To his relief she was okay. A beam of light was heading straight for her, but Pit was confident that she would be able to deal with it without a problem.

He was wrong.

He felt her go.

"Lady Palutena!" his heartbreaking scream was drowned out by the sound of the light that had taken Palutena away from him.

She was gone. Again. He failed her. _**Again.**_

"Pit!" he thought he heard his twin scream. Shortly after that Pit felt the familiar sensation of falling. Coupled with the fear of losing Lady Palutena again Pit wanted to do something, ANYTHING other than falling but he was helpless.

Then from the corner of his eyes he saw a bright light and his entire body felt warm.

With tears in his eyes, he smiled,_ 'Lady Palutena?'_ She came back for him!

Then, everything went dark.

* * *

-help. help. help. help. please don't make me do this again please. help. help.-

**Servant of my light, your job is to defend this temple from all who would dare enter. You are to snuff out their lives, no matter what. **

**You have no choice.**

* * *

HOO BOY what a chapter huh uh okay time for some explanations for some things that might be too out there or references i know not everyone will get SO

**_'Great Palutena':_** back in brawl one of pits victory quotes was 'Great Palutena! Victory is ours!' so i replaced lady palutena with great palutena but only for the brawl era/before uprising. maybe he grew out of it.

**_'Bop bop bop! bop to the top!'__:_** pit trans :)

_**'doll judgement':**_ back in high school, i FOR WHATEVER REASON had a head canon (not called head canons at the time) that pit made plushies of every single one of the fighters of the roster. what made me think this? nothing. there was no reason. i cannot explain it.

**_'puppit__':_** also back in high school i really thought there had to be some sort of connection between pit and the enemies named puppits. there was not.

**_'_****_we're nearly outta time but youre doing fine'_: **i never liked the idea of a smash manor/hotel. seemed kinda weird to me when theres a whole world out there for people to explore. maybe im just a weirdo.

**_'BLAPPI! PITTOO! PITTOO! PITTOO!'__:_** dark pits cheer in smash 4 and ultimate has the audience cherring "pittoo! pittoo! pittoo!" its really funny.

**_'core of the problem': _**the first morse code says 'master core' the second says 'help me pit!'...i think?

_**'Sister series':**_ metroid and kid icarus are considered to be sister series due to being on the same engine? and having some same people work on both. but its clear which is the more successful sister who left their little brother in the dust

**_'pits guidance part three, these aren't jokes i made on twitter already'_: **he looks more like trunks to me but what do i know?

_**'bigger snake theory**_': my knowledge of metal gear lore stems from my friends stream of the fifth and my cousin playing mgs 3. do not look at me ground zeros you have no rights. also im half nicaraguan did you know that :)

_'_**_original fatal frame 2 can stay BUT FIVE and the remake. ARE OUTTA HERE'_: **okay this might be the most confusion one for like everyone that isnt me. mio and mayu are spirits in smash. so in fatal frame 2 there is a ritual known as the twin sacrifice-yes i know it sounds bad stay with me. its used to appease dark spirts and the like. in the ritual the younger twin kills the older. BUT WAIT isnt pit the older one? well yes, but in game in the ancient village the rule is that the twin born first is the younger and the 2nd born which allowed the weaker twin to be born first is the older. so there you go. also in the game mayu fell off a cliff and injured her ankle so yeah that was her plan for pit. i wouldnt kill pit, who do i look like? sakurai? anyway fatal frame 4, the 2 remake and five are not valid.


	7. Pit was young(er) and Palutena is big

**In which Pit was still young(er) and The Goddess Palutena is big**

* * *

**-a****rtistic liberty pushed to the very edge****-**

_Let us go back to the distant past. _

_ Back to an age where Gods and Humans lived in harmony. There was once a kingdom called "Angel Land." This kingdom was ruled by two beautiful Goddesses, Palutena who administered light and Medusa who ruled darkness._

-One of whom had been out and about for a suspiciously long time.

Medusa nervously paced back and forth while tugging on her dark blue dress. Her long black hair dragged itself on the floor, which was one of Medusa's biggest pet peeves but at this point that was the farthest thing on her mind. She had been waiting in the temple's throne room almost all day for her counterpart; Palutena, to return from her mystery errand.

Palutena rarely, if ever left their realm by herself. Not without at least telling Medusa where she was going. Even if it was annoying, Palutena always told Medusa exactly what she was doing and where she was going. Be it interrupting her Hot Spring time with an announcement that she was going out to buy take out or waking her up in the middle of the night to proclaim that they had run out of milk.

The Goddess' greatest fear was that Palutena was, for some reason or another, visiting the Overworld.

"She better not be snooping around where she's not supposed to..." unlike her, Palutena had no business visiting Humankind. Medusa knew Palutena loved Humans and always provided them with any blessing they needed, but she always choose to watch them from afar. Unless, did she also think...

Then, on cue, the front doors of the temple opened, and two people walked in.

Okay. One of them was carried in.

"There you are! Where have you be-?" As soon as Medusa looked back at Palutena her worries gave way to confusion and she found herself to stunned to continue yelling at the other Goddess. The throne room was quiet, save for the sounds of Palutena's heels stepping on the marble floor and the soft cooing of an infant. After what felt like an eternity Medusa finally felt composed enough to face and ask Palutena about what she had just brought into the temple with her.

Medusa took in a deep breath, "Palutena. **WHAT**\- is that?"

Palutena took quick look at the bag she was carrying and adjusted the sleeping baby she held in one of her arms.

"...Groceries?"

* * *

**-take me down to angel land, where the land has angels and the angels all land—**

"Not that!"

Palutena had the bad habit of unintentionally testing Medusa's patience on a daily basis, but this might have been one of her hardest tests yet. Medusa was THIS close to teleporting her staff to her and bonking some sense into Palutena's apparently empty head. Medusa took in another deep breath and prepared herself for another of Palutena's convoluted stories (the first of many to come), "I MEANT-what is **THAT**?!"

The baby held by Palutena's arm wiggled and cooed. It was almost as if they knew someone was drawing attention to them. "A baby Angel." Palutena firmly stated. Then she set her bag of groceries down and with her one free arm brushed away a lock of hair that covered one of the baby's eyes. "There! Isn't it annoying when hair gets in your face?" Palutena asked the sleeping infant. The baby thanked Palutena for her service by drooling on all over her arm.

Medusa cleared her throat, trying to wrestle Palutena's attention away from the baby she was slowly rocking back and forth. Palutena stopped and winced. She looked back at Medusa with a guilty look strewn across her face. This let Medusa know that Palutena was at least aware of what she was doing wasn't normal.

"I know that's a baby!" Medusa hadn't noticed the Angel part but there was no need to let Palutena know that, "I mean what's it doing here?!"

"I brought them here!"

Medusa was about ready to pull out her hair in frustration.

Palutena was very good at getting under her skin. The worst part was that she never meant to, it just sort of happened. The reason could either be because the Goddesses were literally polar-opposites, or it could have been because the time they've spent living together (a couple of millenniums) was finally starting to take its toll.

Whatever the truth was, Medusa didn't care. She only cared about getting answers. "You know...if you won't give me a straight answer, I'll have to ask someone else."

Palutena eyes widened in fear. She knew Medusa far too well to know that her threat wasn't a joke. Medusa absolutely would go to another God and ask if they had seen her do anything, and once she raised suspicion on Palutena the Gods would certainly investigate more into Medusa's claims. And when the other Gods did find out what she had done...

"Medusa! I..."

"You're never going to hear the end of it. I'm just saying."

Palutena swallowed hard and stared at the baby she held in her arms. Her eyes were still wide with fear but one tiny little squeak from the baby in her hands was all it took for Palutena to decide that-

"Who cares what a couple of old Gods think?!"

Medusa for the first time in her long life finally experienced the emotion of 'completely flabbergasted.' "Eh?"

"They can call me impulsive, stupid, unfit to be a Goddess-and I wouldn't care! I bet they call me that all the time behind my back anyway! Besides, do you think any other God out there is fit to take care of a baby Angel? Let me answer that for you-the answer is no! I bet most of them don't even know how to preen an Angel's wings!"

"You don't either. You've never even preened your own wings. Or mine!"

"That is beside the point! The point is that the other Gods don't know they would even have to do that! But me? I do know! Which makes me the perfect caretaker for this wittle cutie!" she held the baby up to her face and snuzzled their nose against hers. They, surprisingly, still slept soundly. Then again, the poor little thing had just had a very busy day. "Besides our realm is literally called _Angel Land_. Its perfect!"

Medusa pulled on her loose strands of black hair, "That is the name they gave us in Skyworld because out of every other God's realm Angels decide to flock here the most." she plucked out a loose hair. "They're making fun of us!"

"Well then that's their problem! Not ours..." Palutena slowly started to back out of the room. She had completely run out of excuses and ways to dance around where exactly she picked up a baby Angel from. But she did 100% mean everything she said about not caring about what the Gods would say about her. Both she and Medusa had heard enough criticism from them to fill tens of thousands of books by now. Would another 30 thousand words of mistakes really hurt that much?

"'Well' nothing!" Medusa had lost all her patience. "What about its parents?! Don't you think you should-?!"

Palutena stopped walking.

Medusa saw her free hand form into a tight fist as she took in a shaky breath, Palutena offered no verbal answer. No matter how hard the Goddess of Light tried she couldn't look Medusa in the eyes. Whether it was because of fresh tears forming at the corners of her eyes or because of her guilt, Palutena couldn't look back at her. Neither Goddess could tell just how long they stood in tense silence before Palutena clumsily wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to run towards her room, the Angel still sleeping in her arms.

Medusa did not bother asking about the Angel again.

* * *

**-the forever unanswered question—**

Palutena gently laid the baby Angel down on her bed. Then she knelt down beside them and starred silently as the baby continued sleeping.

The Angel had been sleeping soundly ever since Palutena arrived back to Angel Land. Keeping them calm during the trip back proved to be a test of patience for her, but she knew deep down it was just a taste of what was to come. Probably. If she was being honest, she didn't know what to expect from them.

Before today Palutena had never even glanced at a baby for more than a few seconds but now here she was; a baby Angel's new guardian. Now she was responsible for their safety and upbringing instead of...

_'Everything had gone south fast when, without warning, the Underworld forces attacked a small Human Village. By the time Palutena found out about the sudden attack there had already been more than a few casualties. But thanks to her the Village itself and several of the villagers had been saved. The survivors did not celebrate or thank the Goddess of Light for what she had done for them but Palutena didn't mind. She found solace in the safety of the Humans and she granted them as many blessings as she could so they could rebuild and regain what they had loss._

_The pair of Angels that decided to try and fight off the attacking Underworld forces by themselves, were not as lucky._

_**'Someone has to help!'**_

_**'If we don't help they won't stand a chance!' **_

_Palutena never meant to find them. She stumbled upon them entirely by chance. At first glance she thought they were a pair of Humans, so she left quickly to avoid a run in with a Reaper (they were always so weird...) Then the weak cries of someone that sounded quite small caught her attention and she found herself running back towards the Humans. Which of course they were not. To Palutena's credit there was no easy way to tell the difference between an Angel and Human. Not when the former was missing the most distinct parts of them._

_Palutena sneezed, there were a lot of loose feathers floating around. "Weird."_

_Finding what the source of the whimpering wasn't hard. It was the only thing that was alive and kicking for miles, to Palutena it stuck out like a sore thumb on a giant foot. There on the ground lying in between of the recently deceased couple, was a small wriggling...thing. It was so small Palutena was surprised she hadn't accidently stepped on it. She knelt down to get a good look at them and was meet with a pair of striking blue eyes, staring right at her._

_"Uh-?!"_

_Palutena wasn't an idiot (no matter what Medusa thought), she knew what a baby was. What she didn't know was what a baby was doing all the way out here especially so close to a pair of dead-_

_"Oh."_

_She quickly picked up the curious infant, the baby moved around in her arms trying to get used to Palutena's unfamiliar hold. Their long dress was stained with dirt and what Palutena prayed was red paint._

_"There are better places to take a nap then on the ground you know!" she joked trying to make the baby laugh. Alas, it was but a baby. "Hmm. They must have heard that one before." their blank stare was doing nothing to help her figure out how they felt. But! It was going to be okay! Sure, the child might have lost both of their Parents, but hey-they were young. They could still find another loving Human family to take them in and raise them! She knew her Humans well, there would definitely be a family out there kind enough to take in a newly orphaned child._

_While Palutena decided to not think at all how she would go about giving a Human family their brand-new kid, she instead decided to inspect the baby for any injuries they might have taken in their parent's struggle. If the baby was alive, and they weren't, they must have fought tooth and nail to protect their child. That was the most likely explanation for why the baby was uninjured, but it never hurt to be careful!_

_Everything seemed in order and the oddly calm baby looked no worse for wear, given what they had probably just gone through. Yup! The Human baby looked perfectly healthy!_

_Then she noticed the small pair of wings on their back._

_"OH."_

_Her decision had been quick, no thinking had been involved at all. Nothing in Palutena's head ever considered the consequences of adopting an Angel or the trouble raising one might cause. Palutena never even thought about how she had absolutely NO experience in taking care of a child. Sure, she had seen Angel children around Angel Land and even greeted them once or twice, but they had parents._

_Now, Palutena decided that she was the parent._

_As her light enveloped her and her plus one to take them back to Angel Land, she took one last look at the Angel couple. She didn't recognize them, she didn't want to. Though Palutena knew she would eventually know their true identities. She knew that one day there would be two Angels that she would cluelessly recall not having seen for a while. Then the realization would hit her like a runaway chariot. But, until that day came she was happy to live in blissful ignorance._

_"Angels aren't meant to fight." she whispered to the Angel couple. As if they could still hear her warning._

"Its been a long day. Hasn't it little guy?" by now the baby had woken up from their nap and were now taking in their new surroundings. Their eyes looked around everywhere at anything unfamiliar to them, which was everything.

They babbled something. Whether it was towards Palutena or they were just expressing their thoughts at the situation they suddenly found themselves in, it was clear that- Palutena had no idea what they were saying.

"Huh? What was that?" Palutena leaned in close to be able to hear them better.

The baby laughed as Palutena's side bangs tickled their face. They wanted to grab it and play with it, but very young infants have little to no control over their hands. That's why you might sometimes see babies wearing little gloves, they might scratch themselves. Why did you need to know that? Easy! So you wouldn't be confused why the baby Angel lightly slapped Palutena's mouth instead of grabbing her hair.

"Thanks." Palutena said, the Angel's hand still on her face.

Hand stuck on her face aside, this was going to work! Palutena would find them a vacant room they could stay in, the temple was full of them! Then maybe she could teach them how to fly just like all the other Angels she'd seen! Then-! Then...? Hmm...

Then what? Now what?!

The baby giggled again. They found Palutena's funny face really funny. The way she looked like she was instantly regretting her impulsive choice and was thinking instead on how she could have saved the foolish pair of Angels if she had arrived just a few minutes earlier was hilarious to them. Palutena's expression quickly changed. She was no longer grimacing, but she looked surprised at how hard the baby was laughing. This also meant the baby stopped laughing but they still had a big dopey smile on their face. "That smile..." Palutena paused, "...is soooo cute!"

That was it then!

She, along with some occasional help from Medusa of course, were going to be the best new caretakers they'd ever had! When she considered the state of their competition, it was clear that they were already miles ahead in the lead.

...Ick, that was a little morbid wasn't it?

Oh well. She threw the baby up into the air and caught them, they laughed and flapped their wings.

Angst was never quite her style anyway.

* * *

**-how to raise an angel? probably not like this-**

A whole three days had gone past since Palutena had brought a mysterious Angel infant back home. For most of those three days the baby had been quiet, for the most part. There was a cry or a whine here and there, but it was nothing Palutena couldn't handle. Even with her limited knowledge of how to take care of a baby. Medusa had also been a great help during the past days, offering her usual amount of criticism and expertise where Palutena lacked.

**Which was absolutely none because they were both clueless on how to take care of a baby.**

Their combined ignorance would finally come to a end on the evening of the third day when the peace and quiet came to a confusing end. Both Goddesses were taken by surprise when the usually quiet Angel suddenly let out an ear-piercing scream.

"What's wrong?! Medusa what's wrong with them?!" Palutena held the baby up in a tight grip and inspected them for any signs that they may have gotten themselves hurt, but they looked perfectly un-hurt.

"How am I supposed to know?!"

The baby's cries were so loud Palutena couldn't hear herself think over any other potential causes for the sudden outburst. She considered for a moment silencing it with her powers, but she couldn't even think of how she would go about doing that.

Thankfully for her, Medusa was a lot more creative with her powers than she was.

"Augh! That's it! Interference!"

The baby was silent once again, but it was obviously still crying. "So what's wrong with it?" Medusa asked known baby expert Palutena. "I don't know!" answered known baby expert Palutena. The pair of Goddesses racked their brains around for any reason that the Angel would be crying. Was it angry? Was it bored? Could Palutena have tied their tunic on too tight?! They only had a very limited amount of time to think of the reason before Interference wore off and their quiet thinking time would be interrupted with the sound of a baby sounding like it was being killed.

Palutena didn't think the Angel was bored, she had carried him around all day all around Angel Land during her morning errands. Obviously he couldn't have been bored after her high-quality tour. Then Palutena thought about all the reasons _she_ would get mad enough to cry. After figuring out that a baby really wouldn't care if Medusa ate the snacks that they had cleverly hidden the day before, she had another idea-

"Medusa? You...You don't think baby Angels need to eat, do you?"

"No? Why would they?!"

* * *

**-never going to live it down-**

"Maybe we should have taken the front door?"

"Last time we took the front door we nearly got sliced in half by a giant blade."

Palutena shivered, remembering the close call she and Medusa had had just a few years prior.

She listened to Medusa and decided that instead of circling back around, for their safety, she would repeatedly keep knocking on the back door to Dyntos' workshop. Now for the 24th..25th...26th...27th time in a row.

Medusa slouched her posture with each knock Palutena made on the large steel door. It was a well-known location for the Gods to interrupt Dyntos for requests and advice. Or both. While Dyntos wasn't the oldest out of all of them, he was known as one of the smartest AND most powerful. A deadly combination when compared to the entire pantheon.

Which also made him a perfect candidate for giving advice about crying children.

"This is a bad idea."

"I thought I already told you. I don't care what anyone thinks."

"That's not what I mean."

Palutena decided to not humor Medusa in whatever it was she really meant and went back to knocking. This time she used both of her hands. "Dyntos! **Dyntooooooos**! Open up its me! Palutena!" she quickly looked back to look at Medusa, who's eyes were narrowed in a judging stare while she held a wriggling silent baby who in reality wasn't so silent. "...and company." Despite Palutena's best yelling, the door remained closed.

"Palutena! Let's just go before anyone notices we're here!"

"Too late!" Dyntos' voice echoed through his realm.

Both Medusa and Palutena visibly cringed at the sound of his voice. "Great." Medusa's annoyance at the situation Palutena had placed them was self-explanatory, but they had both agreed back at the temple that asking Dyntos about the baby Angel was the smartest thing they could do. But neither of them were happy about it.

"Good evening Lord Dyntos!" Palutena bowed, this also served as a secret cue to Medusa that they would both have to switch into formal Goddess mode. Just like they always did whenever they had to meet up with any other God from their pantheon. Most of them were way too serious for either of their tastes. It was like none of them had ever heard of fun or anything. Medusa looked away and stuck out her tongue, remembering the time Zeus got on her and Palutena's case for taking a joyride on his chariot. "Psstt...! Medusa!" Medusa turned back to see Palutena wearing a painfully obvious forced smile, "LORD Dyntos wants to see the uh-problem."

"Oh, right." Medusa walked forward and held out the crying Angel, who thankfully had not broken out of her Interference. "We came here because we desperately need your help. We don't-uh really know what's wrong with them." Palutena continued explaining.

"Hmm..." it sounded like Dyntos was actually taking their problem into consideration, Palutena's shoulders untensed themselves in relief. Though Palutena still held onto her fake smile. Medusa felt like she had to give Palutena credit, she was keeping up the act much longer than she'd done before. Meanwhile Medusa's record was a whopping eleven minutes of acting like she cared about other Gods.

"Well, there's your problem-!" Palutena and Medusa both jumped in surprise at his sudden booming voice, but once the shock wore off, they were both relieved. It sounded like Dyntos had finally solved their little problem.

Dyntos snapped his fingers and somehow de-summoned Medusa's power of Interference. "Oh no." Palutena braced herself for the inevitable. Medusa questioned all her life choices that lead up to this moment. Only a few seconds later, the Angel's screaming and crying started all over again, this time much _much_ _**much**_ louder than before.

"-you put the little tyke on mute!"

Medusa resisted all urges to cover her ears, which would have ended in disaster considering she was holding the darn baby. That's not to say she didn't at least consider doing it once. "That wasn't the problem you absolute-" Palutena quickly covered Medusa's mouth before she could say something that would put all of Angel Land on a one-track road to complete destruction. All because she insulted an old man. "**WHAT** my associate means to say is that wasn't exactly the problem Lord Dyntos!"

"Heh, I knew that. Just having a little fun!" Dyntos laughed to himself mostly. Both Goddesses weren't sure if they had heard him correctly, considering a baby was still crying into their ears at an almost deafening volume.

"Grrreat." in a huff Medusa quickly handed the Angel back to their rightful caretaker, which according to the last few subchapters was in fact; Palutena. "Wha?-hey!?" Medusa put both of her hands up in protest and walked away, but only a few feet away since she didn't trust Dyntos enough to not put at least one trap in his stupid realm.

"Medusa..." Palutena's smile had long since faded and she felt like she would soon start crying herself. And two crying babies did not seem like the solution to their problems. "Lord Dyntos. what I **MEANT** to ask was...I-um have a baby Angel-"

"Yes, I can see that."

Palutena hunched down and blushed, "Right. The problem is that we-"

"Just Palutena! Don't bunch me up with your lousy decisions" Medusa said, shrugging off Palutena's glare.

"Would you two please stop interrupting me!?" Palutena felt a twinge of fear for raising her voice at Dyntos but she decided to roll with the punches. "The problem is that I don't know why they're crying so loudly. They've never done this before! A-And I'm just scared that they might be sick or dying! Or worse!"

"Sounds to me like someone's bitten off more than they can chew." Dyntos let out a hearty laugh which wouldn't have been so bad, if it wasn't at Palutena's expense. "You have no idea." Medusa laughed along with him, "I've been telling her all week how much of a bad idea this was!"

"Okay I get it! Geez, since when was it judge Palutena week?!"

I also think it's important to note that the baby was still crying, surprisingly loud for someone who had been yelling their lungs out for a full two hours. It might have been impressive if it wasn't so painful to listen to.

"Lord Dyntos pleassseee! You're the smartest god I know. Surely you must know-"

"Did you try feeding the poor thing?"

"Did I try what now?"

Medusa let out a scream so loud that it rivaled the screaming of the baby themselves. Before she could start yelling at Dyntos about how he could have just told them that was the problem in the first place instead of keeping them here with a screaming baby against their will, a small bowl of food materialized in her hands.

"What."

"Just feed him that baby food and he'll shut up! Until next time."

Palutena looked over the food in Medusa's hands. It looked...really gross, to say the least. To say the most, it looked like the grossest thing that Palutena had ever seen. She would hadn't believed it was food unless someone told her so. She couldn't help but doubt Dyntos' claims that this is what the baby Angel wanted to eat. "Is this really going to work Dyntos?"

"Oh, it'll work. IF he eats it that is."

Palutena gulped, if even she found that goopy nightmare gross, what would a baby think? While she was busy worrying about the baby's taste in food, Medusa took the initiative and tried to put a spoonful of the food into the baby's open mouth. But even she couldn't help but scrunch up her face over how weird the food looked.

Then the Angel's wriggling arms smacked the spoonful of food back at her face, somehow missing the actual person that was holding them. Palutena held in a snort as best she could. "You..You okay there Medusa?"

"Palutena I want to go home."

"Of course! I think the Angel would feel better at home anyway." realizing the implications of what she'd just said, Palutena quickly turned and faced back to the door of Dyntos' realm which I guess makes a good stand in for Dyntos. "N-Not that this place isn't nice! It's just not home! No offense to you Lord Dyntos!"

"None taken."

Medusa took that as her cue to get to leave scot free. "HA! See you back home Palutena." and with a wave of her staff Medusa disappeared in a flash of darkness. Taking the baby food with her.

"Medusa..." before Palutena could apologize to Dyntos on Medusa's behalf, the Angel suddenly went silent again. "Don't panic, I just cast a silence spell on him." Dyntos eased Palutena's worries, but she still couldn't help but think that if he could have done that this whole time...Why didn't he do it after he dispelled Medusa's Interference?

"I need you listen closely to what I'm about to tell you." Dyntos was a powerful God but there was rarely a time when he was serious about anything, but right now he sounded deadly serious about whatever it was that he was about to tell Palutena. She couldn't deny it. She was a little scared "About your little Angel. I'd keep an eye on him if I were you."

"What...?" and now she was terrified.

"There's going to be a lot of trials ahead of him. Real bad ones too. If he's not careful he might not make it out alive. And the first of them is closer than you think."

Palutena was speechless. She was so shocked the possibility that Dyntos was playing another one of his tricks on her never even crossed her mind. Palutena looked down at the baby Angel in her arms. They'd been through so much already, and now Dyntos was saying it was going to get worse?! _'How can it get worse than losing your parents and having two people forget to feed you?!'_

"But I wouldn't too much about it! Just wanted to let you know, don't say I didn't warn you now."

That didn't make what she had just been told any easier to hear.

* * *

**-getting a closer look-**

It was Palutena's idea that morning to have breakfast outside near the entrance of the temple. According to her the day felt right for something like that. Medusa didn't buy it but felt that arguing against Palutena would be useless. She would just end up eating breakfast without her. So why bother?

Palutena left the Angel under the watchful eye of Medusa while she and a team of Centurions stopped by the kitchen to bring back breakfast and breakfast desserts. And also breakfast two. After apologizing for barging into the kitchen completely unannounced and thanking her cooking staff, she made her way back to the front of the temple where she had left Medusa with the Angel.

"Medusa!" she called out to get the lounging Goddess' attention. Medusa, despite hearing Palutena's call, did not turn around. Her eyes were glued, figuratively speaking, on a temple by the sea that had been recently looted of its treasures by a group of Human mercenaries. To say that it infuriated her would be an understatement. She was so SO close to smiting down the group of greedy Humans right where they stood.

But she really shouldn't. Not now.

"Medusaaaaa!" Palutena yelled much closer now. Medusa thought it best to turn around now and save herself the trouble of being forced to turn around by Palutena herself. "What is it?" she asked, despite already knowing the reason for Palutena's yelling.

Palutena stood in front of her holding two large plates of scrambled eggs and toast. Her Centurion helpers helped carry the plate of the Angel's baby food since Palutena still considered him too young to eat _'grown up Goddess food.'_ "I brought breakfast for the both of us and the Angel! Its your favorite, scrambled eggs!"

Medusa crossed her arms and waited.

"With hot sauce!"

Medusa quickly snatched her plate away and thanked Palutena, then she went back to her important task of keeping watch on the Humans.

"You know, you should really thank the cooks directly one of these days." Palutena poked at her food and waited for Medusa to say something back, but the Goddess of darkness ignored her and focused on her people watching. "Ooor I can thank them for you. Again."

Palutena knew that Medusa wasn't what someone would typically call a 'people-person' but she hoped that Medusa would at least try to make friends with some of the Angels in Angel Land. The most Medusa ever said was 'Hello' or 'Goodbye.' Palutena thought that maybe she was being a little selfish, maybe Medusa just preferred her alone time? And there was nothing wrong with that.

"Right!" with one plate of food delivered it was time to focus on feeding herself and the Angel. "Angel! Hey little Angel! Where are you?" Palutena happily wandered around the entrance of the temple for any sign of the missing infant. They had just recently learned how to crawl around and despite only having been crawling for the past few days they were already more of a handful than they had ever been.

"Angel?" panic slowly began to build, though Palutena kept a smile on her face because why would anything happen to them? Angel Land was a safe place for all Angels and that included them. "They...they couldn't have gone too far right? Maybe they crawled back into the temple!" she turned to her Centurions for any sign of reassurance, "Right?!"

The Centurions both looked at each other, not entirely sure of what they should say. "Uh...right?"

"Maybe Lady Medusa knows where they went!" one of them suggested.

"Of course!" Palutena completely forgot that she had asked Medusa personally to take care of the Angel. How could she have forgotten something so important? Palutena knew Medusa didn't like to be interrupted while doing, well, just about anything. So, she treaded carefully.

"MEDUSA!" she yelled out to Medusa. Right after that Palutena had to dodge an empty plate that was thrown directly at her. "What is it?" Medusa asked as if she just hadn't tried to deck Palutena with a fine piece of china. "Have you seen the Angel around? I can't find them anywhere and I'm sure I told you to watch them." Medusa looked at her and frowned, "...Didn't I?"

"You did and I did." Medusa answered with a slight smile. Palutena let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness for a minute there I thought-"

"I watched them crawl off the edge." Medusa lazily pointed to a particular corner of the temple where a baby would have no trouble crawling to.

Though she had heard Medusa clearly, Palutena struggled to fully understand her words. In Palutena's mind everything and everyone started to fade away, leaving her with only thoughts of the fate of her Angel.

Could this be one of the trials that Dyntos had mentioned? But why here? And why so soon?! They were just a baby! With the clock ticking and in full panic mode Palutena struggled to think of a plan. Before she knew it, her legs were moving on their own and running towards the edge of the island. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before.

"What are you-?! " was the last thing Palutena heard before she jumped.

A cold rush of air hit her and very soon after that she understood just how dumb a decision she had made. "Maybe Medusa has a point. Maybe I am too impulsive?" she thought aloud as she fell through the air. Medusa always told her to think her actions through more, but this particular action was important! If she had stopped to think of a proper plan it might have been too late to save the Angel. It might still be too late now.

"Where are you?!" as she fell Palutena scanned the skies around her. In her years of experience, she knew that the lighter something was the slower it fell to the ground, and the Angel was almost as light as a feather so they couldn't have fallen too far.

She hoped.

Palutena didn't have to hold out hope for long because her prayers were quickly answered when, from the corner of her eye, she spotted a small Angel falling slowly through the clouds.

"There you are!" in a half of a second her staff was teleported to her and she grabbed hold, letting her staff fly her to closer to the Angel to catch them. When she got closer to the Angel, she noticed that they weren't crying like she thought they would be. In fact, it didn't look scared at all. It looked more confused than anything. "You nearly gave me a heart attack little guy!" the baby giggled and held their arms out for Palutena. Even though they were both falling to the ground at an alarmingly fast rate, Palutena couldn't help smiling at just cute they looked.

She also had to admit, the view was nice from up here. Most of the clouds that blocked her view of the Overworld from Angel Land were higher than they had fallen, so she had a clear view of the ground her and the Angel were going to hit if she didn't do anything about it soon.

"Is that what you wanted? A closer view of the surface?" she let go of her staff to hold the Angel with her hands. She held them close to herself, just in case. "If you wanted to get a closer look you could have just asked." the baby ignored her and preoccupied themselves with trying to grab Palutena's necklace that was flowing freely in the wind.

Palutena shifted the baby onto one arm and held them as tight as she could. With her other arm she grabbed her staff and prepared to fly back up.

All of a sudden, there was a loud noise.

It was so loud and mysterious it distracted Palutena from flying back up. "What was that?" she asked herself. It couldn't have been the sound of the wind, it sounded too animal like to be that. Then it sounded again, but this time much closer. Almost as if it was right under them.

Palutena looked down and was meet face to face with the biggest Belunka she ever saw, and it was headed straight for them. "A Belunka?! What is that doing here?!" in her panic her grip must have slipped because the next thing she knew the Angel was falling down yet again, but this time instead of splatting on the ground they would land right in the Belunka's mouth.

Palutena didn't have time to scream, she had to act fast before the Belunka ate her Angel right in front of her. "Heavenly light!" a ray of light came down from the sky and temporally blinded the Belunka. The attack was also intended to hurt the Belunka into retreating but instead it just stood there and took the attack. "You aren't that smart, are you?" despite the clear danger her and the Angel were in, Palutena was glad she could find time to throw in a few jokes here and there. Otherwise she might turn into someone as serious as Medusa. Palutena and her staff swooped down and grabbed the Angel, this time making sure to never let go.

All of Palutena's attention was placed into getting her and the Angel back to Angel Land. This time there wouldn't be any distractions that would get in her way. Though she could have sworn she saw the Angel waving goodbye at the injured Belunka. It must have been her imagination.

After what felt like an eternity, Palutena and her Angel finally set foot on solid ground again. A large group of worried Centurions gathered around her to ask Palutena if she was okay. She quickly brushed them off, reassuring them that they were both okay.

"We're just a little winded!" Palutena adjusted her crocked tiara and looked around to see where Medusa had gone. She'd sounded pretty worried when Palutena jumped but now she was just gone, what gives? "Do any of you know where Medusa ran off to?" Palutena asked, she had a gut feeling she already knew the answer. The Centurions looked around at each other and scratched their heads in confusion.

"I guess not."

"We're sorry Lady Palutena."

"Don't worry about it! I'm sure she just left without telling anyone!" Again.

Palutena felt something brush up against her arm. The feeling was the Angel pushing themselves closer to Palutena to take a well-earned nap, the fall had left them quite cold and all they wanted now was something warm to cuddle up against. Palutena pulled them closer to herself, it didn't take long for the Angel to fall into a peaceful sleep. _'This feels nice.'_ Palutena thought. It felt nice having them safe in her arms.

"I just wanted to let Medusa know that I'm never taking the Angel outside ever again."

From behind of a column Medusa laughed to herself. When the Angel had crawled off Angel Land she didn't think there was anything to panic about, Angels jumped off all the time. Why would this time be different? She had thought Palutena would agree with her but when Medusa saw her jump off, she realized. That baby Angel meant more to her than she thought.

Medusa shook her head and laughed again, "Idiot could have just warped the Angel back."

* * *

** -babys first word- **

A little over a year had now passed since Palutena brought home the still unnamed Angel.

Both Palutena and Medusa (mostly Palutena) were now much more experienced in knowing how to take care an infant. That's not to say there still weren't a few hiccups here and there.

Palutena still had trouble learning how to hold the Angel properly without hurting her wrists or the baby, learning that she had to support their head whenever she held them took a bit more time to get used to than she was willing to admit. Medusa on the other hand still had trouble getting used to the fact that babies are not able to fend for themselves, something she was more annoyed by then embarrassed. Though it _was _still a tad embarrassing when she had, more than once, asked the Angel to close the window. Leaving her to the mercy of the cold breeze for a full hour until she finally got the hint and closed it herself.

With so much time having passed since the Angel arrived the Goddess of light began to wonder when they would start talking and walking and flying like the other Angels that lived in and around Angel Land.

"Maybe she got a defective one?" Medusa said to herself while gazing down at the Overworld through her personal Fountain of Seeing. She was all too eager to voice her concerns to Palutena over her extremely rash decision making, but not at that very moment in time. She was busy watching something very important. That day both Goddesses had decided to spend the afternoon Human watching. Or at least that's what Medusa was doing. Palutena had instead decided to sit close by and watch over the Angel instead, close enough to hear what Medusa had muttered.

"Medusa!" Palutena was quick to cover the baby's ears. This confused them for a while before they went back to happily chewing on their fairy shaped teething toy.

"It's a baby! It's not going to understand me!"

"And that makes it okay to be mean to them?"

Medusa scoffed, turning her attention back to a small town on a nearby hillside. For no reason at all Medusa had been eyeing it all morning. The village hadn't tended to their temple for the longest time and it was beginning to fall apart. Not to mention the looters...

Palutena sighed, her frown quickly faded when she looked back her Angel. They were absolutely going to town on their new toy; one of a pair of Fairy Orbitars Palutena had swiped from the rarely used weapons room. It was hard enough for the her to find something soft enough for the Angel to chew on but coupled with the fact that it also had to be small enough to hold in their tiny TINY hands. Well, that made the search almost impossible! Luckily Palutena was struck by inspiration when a couple of clearly lost Fairies flew by Angel Land.

_'That's it!'_ a Fairy Orbitar would be the perfect fit, and she was right! They were soft enough to chew, at least she guessed they would be...she didn't chew on them to check or anything!

**RIGHT** and they were small enough for a baby to hold, she was a genius. The Angel's teeth would definitely grow in at the rate that they chewing. Or at least that's how Palutena thought teething worked.

"I wonder what food you'll eat first?" Palutena said with a hum, "Maybe burgers! Burgers are delicious. Maybe I should ask the cooks to make burgers today?" Palutena looked back down at the busy infant for any signs of recognition over what she said.

However, the Angel's interest lied elsewhere, somewhere more important than food they couldn't eat. The sound of Palutena's voice was enough to draw their attention away from their toy, if only for a moment. Enough for them to babble a few nonsensical words of baby words. Which made perfect sense to them but was pretty much non-understandable to anyone else ever. With another high pitched squeal they went back to chewing on the unlucky Orbitar.

Palutena's eyes lit up, a sign that she had come up with another brilliant idea. She adjusted the baby, who had been lying down on her lap, so that instead it was sitting up straight. "Okay. Can you say 'burger'?"

The baby's eyes looked up at her, but their attention was still on trying to dull the pain of their teeth growing in.

"Hmm...alright. How about something easier? Like 'sock'!"

"How is that any easier than burger?" Medusa chimed in.

"It has less letters!"

Medusa rolled her eyes and shook her head in disappointment. It was starting to look like, to her at least, that Palutena wasn't cut out for parenting. It wasn't like she was parent of the year material either, but at least she knew she wasn't. However long Palutena was going to keep playing pretend Medusa hoped that neither the Angel or Palutena would end up getting hurt in the end.

"Can you saayyy-? Oh! Say 'Angel'?"

Nonetheless just as the earth kept turning, the baby continued chewing and drooling. Palutena couldn't help finding it a little gross but at least they weren't drooling all over her. That was one good thing. Undeterred, Palutena continued giving the Angel all sorts of different words hoping that one would catch their attention and they would repeat. It wouldn't exactly be having a 'conversation', not 100 percent, but it would be a step in the right direction.

"'Food'?" nope.

"'Blessing'?" nothing.

"'Wings?'" no luck.

After asking the Angel to say almost every word Palutena could think of (but not really) she was quick to finally throw in the towel. Palutena glanced over to Medusa, who had rarely spoken up since they both made their way to the throne room to investigate any "suspicious activity" on the Overworld. Well, Medusa was the one mostly investigating, Palutena was there to keep up morale. At least that's what Medusa had told her to do. "Ugh..." if she wasn't busy with the baby Angel, she might have felt even more useless than she was right now.

"Hey, Medusa?"

"Hmm?" Medusa did not turn around. Instead she choose to keep her eyes peeled on the empty temples of the hillside town.

"You want to-? Maybe try saying some words? It wouldn't hurt to try!"

Medusa did consider Palutena's offer. But as she watched a group of Humans below and saw how they walked past one of their old temples. How they made the conscious decision to let it fall apart. How they choose to ignore both her and Palutena. There was only one thing on her mind she wanted to tell Palutena. and it was more than one simple word.

It was something Medusa had been wanting to talk about for ages now, but she knew Palutena too well. She would never believe her, not by word of mouth alone.

But it couldn't hurt to try.

Medusa sighed and finally turned around, she turned so fast her crown tilted itself to the side. Her decision had been last minute.

"Palutena the-"

"Palutena!" a new voice said, finally joining in the conversation. Then they went right back to playing.

Palutena literally lit up and smiled from ear to ear while Medusa stood dumbfounded. The Goddess of Light had to physically restrain herself from hugging her Angel tight and congratulating them hundreds of thousands of times all while stomping her feet in place.

Her mental restraint only worked for about five seconds before Palutena did the exact thing that was just described a single sentence ago. "Medusa! Medusa! You heard them right?!" Medusa nodded and quickly looked away. "Ahh! We're so proud of you!" Palutena, with her giggling angel in tow, skipped over to Medusa's side and proudly swung an arm over her shoulders, "-and we owe it all to Medusa!"

Medusa quickly retreated away from Palutena's hold. "That's right. go me." it was just one word. No big deal. Yet no matter how much Medusa looked away she couldn't do much hide the smug smile on her face.

* * *

**-training with lady palutena-**

"Okay Angel." Palutena gulped and held the Angel in her shaking hands, "I'm counting on you. Don't let me down."

The Angel tilted their head, confused. They kicked their legs and flapped their wings to let Palutena know that they wanted to go back down. Being held up like this was just uncomfortable. When moving around didn't work the Angel started crying out loud. "Palutena! Palutena!" there were no tears just yet but if Palutena kept this up they were sure to show up eventually.

"J-Just bear with me for a second!" the baby's body language was obvious enough that even Palutena could tell that they were asking to go back to napping on the ground, but this was important!

Oddly, the Angel seemed to calm down after Palutena's plea, but just somewhat. The angry pout on their face was evidence enough that they were still plenty annoyed. Palutena sighed with relief and faced the wall, holding the Angel as high as she could. Until they were face to face with the terrifying eight-legged creature itself.

A bold spider that had crawled right into Palutena's hairbrush while she was brushing the Angel's hair. Little did it know that it messed with the wrong team.

"Please kill it."

With no further orders needed the Angel crushed the spider with their small hands.

Somehow.

* * *

**-what's your name?-**

It had been almost a full six years since Palutena walked into her temple with a baby in one hand and a bag full of junk food in the other, and while one was gone by that afternoon the other had quickly warmed their way into her heart and into daily life at the Temple.

The only problem now was...

"Palutena that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"Just hear me out-!"

"I did!"

The small Angel, oblivious of the argument between the Goddesses, skipped right past them on their way to the kitchen table. While he had grown since first arriving to the Temple they were still very small, so they still required the help of someone taller than him to reach certain things. Like say, a fresh piece of fruit that was just harvested that morning and placed into a basket on the kitchen table.

Unfortunately, the only two people that could have possibly helped him were busy.

"Palutena! Paluteeenaa!" he pointlessly yelled. Neither of the Goddesses looked like they had even heard him. Did they even hear them come in? The Angel puffed up their cheeks in anger. "Palutena!" they yelled again, but it was no good. "Medusa!" even calling to Medusa wasn't working. Whatever it was that they were both talking about must have been very important.

But the still unnamed Angel wasn't the type of person to give up so easily.

Using all their limited strength the Angel grabbed hold of a kitchen chair and began dragging it closer to the table, with full intent on climbing it to reach his favorite snack. The chair made a sudden loud noise when they dragged it across the floor. The Angel looked up, hopeful that maybe that noise would turn the Goddesses heads towards them. But not even the scraping of their kitchen floor was enough to catch the attention of either Palutena or Medusa.

They pouted and continued dragging the chair as fast as their little arms could. Eventually the chair was close enough that they could barely reach the kitchen table, but there was no chance of grabbing the snack from where they stood. The Angel stretched their arms as far as they could but the fruit basket was just out of reach. They were so hungry and frustrated now that they could just about burst into tears. And they did.

A loud wail interrupted the Goddesses' talk. Palutena was the first to react. "Oh no! What are you doing up there?!" she ran up to the crying Angel, scooping him up from the chair and into in her arms. "How did you even get up there? You're not hurt are you?!" Palutena inspected the Angel for any signs of possible injuries.

"If they were hurt they would have told you."

Palutena glared at her, she didn't think Medusa was in any position to tell her on what to do when it came to her Angel. Especially when she hadn't wanted them to stay here in the first place. That was a lot of the reasoning why they were both arguing that fateful afternoon.

In Palutena's arms the Angel continued to whine and wriggle out of her hold. "What's wrong?" Palutena saw them reaching out their arms towards...somewhere. "Palutena!" he pushed himself away from her, almost slipping from her grasp. That's when Palutena finally caught sight of the fresh basket of fruits the Centurions had brought back that morning.

"Do you want a fruit?" she asked. The Angel didn't fully understand her words and kept whining, they were almost back to crying. Palutena finally got the hint and reached over to the basket, dragging it closer to her. As soon as she did that the Angel calmed down and clapped their hands in joy. Palutena smirked and turned back to Medusa, expecting the Goddess of darkness to be at least a little impressed by her ability to understand the needs of her Angel.

Instead of anything like that, Medusa simply shook her head disapprovingly.

"Whatever." Palutena turned her attention back to the Angel who was busy putting their hands all over the different pieces of fruits in the basket. "Are you deciding on what you want?" the Angel answered by making a nonsensical noise, "That probably means yes, right?"

After looking at and touching almost every fruit the basket had to offer, they choose which one they wanted. The Angel happily flapped its small wings and looked at Palutena, a small fruit in their hands. "Palutena!" the Angel happily exclaimed, they held up the fruit to her and as she expected he was holding a plum. It was one of the Angel's favorite snacks and Palutena knew this very well. Palutena also knew that they tended to try and eat the pit of the plum.

"Okay, okay." she gently set him back down on the floor and took the plum from them, cleaning it with her dress. "And clean! Here you go Angel!" however, just as she was about to hand it back, she retracted the fruit away from them. The Angel made a sound akin to someone sounding confused. "Before I do though-" she knelt down, so that she was almost at eye level with her Angel, "-promise me you won't try and eat the pit, okay? No eating the pit."

"He's not going to understand." Medusa said trying to remind her that she was speaking to an actual toddler.

Palutena ignored her. "No pit, okay? No. _Pit_." she said trying to put her request in the simplest way that she could. The Angel gave her a blank stare and held their hands out, still wondering why she wasn't giving them the plum. Palutena sighed, she expected something along this outcome, but she'd be lying if there wasn't some disappointment in being wrong. Again.

"Here. Just take it."

The Angel, a little confused on what just happened, took the plum. As soon as it was in their hands, they completely forgot about everything and they happily sat down to eat their favorite snack.

"Right." with the Angel taken care of that left Palutena with only one other problem to deal with. Medusa. "Where were we?" she forced a smile, knowing exactly what was coming next. "I **SAID** the Angel is not going to name itself! It can barely talk save for your name and mine and now you want it to name itself?"

Palutena half heartily nodded and Medusa groaned loudly.

"AND HOW do you plan on doing that?" she knew that whatever Palutena was going to say would sound incredibly stupid, but she still wanted to hear it anyway.

"It's simple." Palutena turned around and pretended to talk to the busy-eating-a-snack Angel. "I ask them a simple question like; 'What do you want your name to be?'" she turned back around, satisfied with her demonstration. "And that's tha-"

"Pit! No! Pit!"

Both Goddesses stared at him, completely silent. There were two reasons for this. One reason was that those two words had been the first non-goddess related words the Angel had said, ever. The second and reason was the implications of the new words in their vocabulary.

Medusa was the first to speak, "Don't."

"Pit! Of course! Why didn't I see it before?! Its the perfect name!" Palutena happily picked up '_**Pit**_' hugged them as tight as she could without upsetting them. "Pit! Pit! That's it!" she held them up and smiled. Pit was now happily laughing, they had no idea what was going on but if Palutena was happy so were they!

Palutena was shining with pride. She was so proud of them. Not only had they successfully said more words, they perfectly choose their own name too! "I knew you could do it! I just knew it!" she held them close and hugged them, continuing to praise them with as many compliments as she could think of.

And the best part?

They didn't eat the pit!

* * *

**-legally cant say-**

"MEDUSA!"

The doors to the throne room were slammed open. Well. More like they were kicked open by Palutena herself.

Medusa quickly turned off her own All-Seeing-Eye that had been spying on a nearby Human village and turned around to see what could have caused Palutena to open the doors so violently like that. It was very unlike her. It was also very unlike Palutena to wear an expression of absolute rage.

"Can...Can I help you?"

Palutena stood silent, her fists shaking in anger. She found herself unable to speak for the longest time. Until she did, "Did you teach Pit a swear?!"

"Pfft..." Medusa subtly averted her gaze, "...No." Medusa fully turned away from the other goddess, trying her best not to break out into laughter.

Because she totally had. She in fact had taught him several.

* * *

**-meanwhile at the palace of power-**

_"Is that really why Pit knows so many swears?" Viridi asked. She had been curious about Pit's vocabulary ever since she witnessed a training session with both Angels at her temple. The dark Angel had poked his twin right in his eye, and this resulted in Pit letting out a variety of colorful words that even she had never heard._

_Palutena groaned for an absurdly long amount of time and slumped down into her seat, "YES." The Goddess was mostly upset that Medusa had taken away the golden opportunity that should had belonged to __**HER**__ instead._

* * *

**-i wanna be tall!-**

"Here you go Pit!"

Palutena handed the small Angel a jar of honey from the high cupboards. Pit had been trying to jump to reach it since after lunchtime. Pit silently reached for and grabbed the jar from Palutena's hands, his mouth was open wide and his eyes stared at Palutena in shock.

"Pit?" for a second Palutena worried that she might have given him the wrong thing. "Did you want something else? Or are you-?"

"How did you do that!" Pit suddenly yelled. He had been trying for so long to reach the high shelf, even going so far as to try and climb his way up there. He was **so** confused, how could Palutena have possibly done it so easily?

Palutena blinked, confused at what Pit's question meant. "I did it...? B...Because I'm tall?" she answered as simply as she could.

"Woaaah...!"

"Woah, indeed."

"I wanna be tall!" Pit jumped up and down, flapping his wings and trying his best to reach up to how tall Palutena was. Unfortunately for him he could only reach up to around her waist.

"Oh you do, do you? And how tall do you want to be?"

Pit stopped jumping to think about Palutena's very important question. If he wasn't tall enough he couldn't reach high things (like snacks!), but if he was too tall he might crash through the ceilings! That would hurt a lot...

He gasped, Palutena assumed he had an answer.

"Five!" he said while happily flapping his wings.

* * *

**-let me work my magic-**

A few days after Pit had taken his first steps Palutena had made a vow to herself that she would finally take him outside of the temple for the first time in forever.

It had now been eight years since she made that promise.

That early morning however was different. She took one look outside at the beautiful weather and the clear skies and decided that today would be the fateful day.

After rushing through breakfast by eating exactly one cereal bar she stopped in her tracks when a strange piece of paper tapped to the fridge caught her attention. It looked like it was another note from Medusa. A sloppily written note that looked like it was written in a rush. It let Palutena know that ONCE AGAIN her counterpart would be out for the day. Undeterred and used to being left behind by now, Palutena made her way over to Pit's room.

Pit's room was located to the left of Palutena's own room, give or take a few empty rooms in between. The temple had an infestation of vacant rooms so finding a good room for Pit to live in wasn't a problem.

The problem came when Palutena and Medusa had to decorate it. Asking Pit when he was a baby hadn't quite worked out as well as Palutena hoped it would, so they both decided that they would take matters into their own hands. They both knew that he needed a bed and maybe at least one chair. Other than those two things, everything else in Pit's room was added by his request as he grew up.

Palutena was more than happy to give him anything he wanted. Especially when he was stuck inside the temple. Luckily Pit didn't ask for much (maybe because he didn't know anything about anything?) A few toys here and there, soft pillows, a warm blanket, and a lava lamp. Palutena was really confused on how he found out about that last one. Maybe he'd overheard Medusa talking about one once.

Palutena stepped as quietly as she could through the room, making sure to avoid any toys that Pit failed to put away the night before. She could sense Pit was still fast asleep. Which made sense it was around six in the morning. (Palutena's decision was VERY short minute.) Palutena took a deep breath, she'd had eight years to prepare herself for this moment but there was still a small part of her that thought this was a bad idea.

If Pit were to go outside once again, what could stop the same thing from happening again?

...Okay. There were actually a lot of reasons that something as bad as Pit falling off Angel Land and almost getting eaten by a Belunka wouldn't happen again. Pit at least knew better than to walk off the edge now. At least Palutena hoped he did.

Along with that, there were also many safety measures they had taken since that day. With Medusa's help Palutena was able to put a shield around Angel Land that warded off any intruders. The other Gods had their share of sour opinions on the isolation the Goddesses were putting themselves in, but just like with everything else, they soon decided they didn't care enough to worry about it.

Palutena thought it was safe to say that everything was going to work out great! Hopefully!

Palutena lightly tip-toed her way to Pit's bedside. He was sleeping soundly, wrapped up in his favorite purple blanket. If things were any different Palutena might have had decided to wait until later in the morning to wake Pit up. But this was the same Goddess who found a newly orphaned baby on the ground and decided to raise them herself.

"Pit! Its time to get up!"

"Ahh?!" the lucky thing was that Pit was still young and excitable. Which meant that he didn't mind being woken up at six a.m. But if someone were to try the same thing to Palutena, say about 35 years later, they would most likely get Mega Lasered on the spot. That's not to say Pit wasn't at least a little confused at why Palutena was suddenly in his room yelling at him to get up. Though he was more scared than confused

"Great Palutena?! What's wrong! Is something bad?!" he grabbed one of his pillows and quickly hid under it to protect himself from whatever scary thing was around. "No Pit." Palutena gently grabbed the pillow and picked it up, Pit held on to it with a tight grip and ended up dangling in the air. Palutena paid him no mind and continued explaining the plan for that day. "I have a surprise for you today!"

"Surprise?!"

"That's right!"

"What's a _surprise_?"

Clearly Palutena had her work cut out for her. "Its something nice I promise!" as gently as she had first picked the pillow up, she put it back down, and traded it for Pit instead. She adjusted him so she was carrying him in her arms "Close your eyes for me okay?" Palutena asked. Pit smiled and nodded. He covered and closed his eyes, just in case. As soon as Pit's eyes were covered Palutena took off running towards the nearest exit of the temple.

Despite it being the early morning there were still plenty of Centurions roaming the halls. "Excuse me!" Palutena said, pushing past patrolling Centurion Knights while knocking them clear out of their path.

"Lady Palutena?! Is there something going on?!"

"Its a surprise!" was all she answered before running on ahead. Palutena took a sharp turn towards the kitchen, which by all accounts was the easiest and quickest way outside. It was also probably the most dangerous. The Angel that was the cook at the time had the notorious reputation of valuing his privacy while conducting his work, so odds were that if Palutena were to run in and interrupt him she would most likely wind up setting him off.

"Hmm. Its worth it!"

"What's a _worth it_!" Pit asked, his eyes were still closed and covered so he had no idea where he and Great Palutena were going. But so far, he'd been enjoying the bumpy ride, uncontrollably laughing the entire time. He even laughed when Palutena almost dropped him after she bumped into a rather strong Strongarm. Right now he was having the time of his relatively short life and he didn't want it to end any time soon.

"The surprise is worth it! I promise!" Palutena ran into the kitchen. While Pit still couldn't see, he could feel the air around him change. The cool still air of the temple faded, and the air suddenly turned hot, a delicious scent lingered all around him. "Pancakes!" Pit yelled out, recognizing the mouthwatering smell. He heard a gasp, it was a voice from someone he didn't recognize.

"Lady Palutena?! W-What are you doing here?! Breakfast won't be ready for another two hours!" the somebody-Pit-doesn't-know-said.

"Sorry Sorry!" Pit heard Great Palutena say. Then there was a weird whooshing noise that flew by them. "Really?! You're throwing kitchen utensils at me now?" Palutena sounded like she had more to say but instead she kept on running.

Though the temptation to grab a few of the already cooked pancakes was strong Palutena knew she had hurry if she wanted to make it outside in time.

Soon after that, Pit felt the hot air disappear as a rush of freezing wind suddenly hit him. It was like nothing he'd ever felt before. He wanted to ask Great Palutena why it was so cold, but the only thing he managed to do was shiver and let out a quiet "Brrr..."

Palutena gently set him down and hugged Pit to protect him from the wind. "If I knew it was going to be this cold, I would have brought a blanket. I'm sorry Pit." she looked down at Pit who was still loyally following Palutena's earlier orders of keeping his eyes closed. He also looked to be less cold with Palutena keeping him warm. "Okay Pit! Go ahead and open your eyes!" immediately Pit opened and uncovered his eyes. The sight that awaited him was like nothing he'd ever seen before in all of his years of living inside the temple.

Mostly because he really actually had never seen anything like it, ever.

"Woah...!" the sky was dark, but Pit could still manage to see countless of floating islands with all sorts of different things on them. Along with the islands in the sky there were also all sorts of people flying around. Pit could make out the several different types of Centurions but there were some shapes that Pit didn't recognize, he wasn't any less blown away by them though. He wiggled free of Palutena's hold, to her surprise, and slowly walked forward to try and get a better view of everything.

Everything, including the shining glowing dots in the sky, was breathtaking. It was something Pit would likely never forget.

Palutena kept quiet and took in every moment Pit's awestruck face.

Until a familiar voice decided to communicate with her. "PYRRHON HAS AWOKEN! Pyrrhon would have been here sooner, but-! I...overslept." Palutena wasn't surprised in the slightest. "That's fine Pyrrhon, we've just gotten outside. Are you ready?"

"PYRRHON IS ALWAYS READY"

"Except for when you need to be that is."

"Hey! I already said I overslept!"

Palutena laughed, despite Pyrrhon's track record she knew she could count on him. That's not to say she wasn't a little bit worried he would miss his cue. "Ah, who am I kidding? Pyrrhon would never miss a chance to be the center of attention." Palutena made her way to where Pit was still looking wide-eyed at his new surroundings. Even the floor seemed to mesmerize him.

"Pit? Are you ready for your surprise?"

Pit's attention was ripped away from the stars and his mouth opened wide, "You mean all THIS wasn't the _surprise_?!"Palutena laughed and gently grabbed his shoulders, turning him around to face a different direction. "No Pit, this is the surprise!"

Right over the horizon of the vast dark blue sky a sunrise rose. Bringing with it a new day.

"How do you like it?"

"Great Palutena Its amazing! Its so pretty! But my eyes kinda hurt."

Palutena couldn't cover Pit's eyes fast enough. "Um! Don't-uh-don't look right at it!"

It was the first of many sunrises the Goddess and Angel would watch together.

* * *

**-spin the bad luck away-**

While Pit was busy taking in the new sights and sounds of the world outside of the temple (under Palutena's watchful eye), a sudden large shadow flying overhead caught his attention. It wasn't just that the figure was flying through the air that drew him in, he'd seen Centurions flying inside the temple dozens of times.

What did surprise him, however, were the size of their wings. They were absolutely-positively giant!

"Great Palutena whats thaaat!?"

Palutena looked up to see a pair of Angels flying overhead. The Gardener and head only Cook, to be more specific.

"Flying together as usual." the pair had a reputation of always being seen side by side. The only time they were apart was when they took time out of their days to work at the temple.

Palutena made it abundantly clear to the Angels that visited Angel Land that they owed her nothing in return for her and Medusa's protection, but many of them took it upon themselves to do the occasional job here and there. That was how Palutena found herself with a part-time gardener, cook, librarian and even an interior designer. In exchange for their work Palutena gave the Angels her protection, many hearts (most of which would be thrown right back her), and the best dental plan she could afford (two free checkups a year!)

As long as her Angels were happy, she was happy.

Pit starred up at the Angels with a quizzical look on his face. "What's a _'flayning_ _asusual'_?" Palutena laughed loudly, "Oh! No, no Pit that's not what they're called!"

"No?"

"No Pit!" she wiped a tear from her eye, she'd laughed way too hard for something as dumb as Pit mishearing her. Maybe she was just happy that Pit had gone outside without any incident. So far.

"They're Angels!" she knelt down and brushed back the hair that threatened to cover one of his eyes, "Just like you!"

Pit let out a loud gasp of disbelief before trying to turn around to look at his own wings. Since there's no feasible way for anyone, even an Angel to look at their own back, Pit spent the better part of a minute spinning around in circles trying to catch a peek at his wings.

Soon the outside world started to tilt and spin on its own, "Woooooaahh..." the feeling of dizziness was something else entirely new to him and even though it was SUPER weird Pit's curiosity got the better of him. He soon put two and two together and connected his spinning to this weird new feeling and kept spinning to continue the strange new sensation. Too bad his head was kinda starting to hurt.

Pit's professional investigation was put to a sudden stop by Palutena. Who, while still kneeling by him, had watched him spin the whole time. "That's enough Pit. I don't want you getting sick." She lightly grabbed his waist and brought him to a sudden stop. Though Pit felt himself stop, the world did not stop spinning. "Wooow Great Palutena how did you do thaaaat?" Pit laughed, almost uncontrollably. Unnerving Palutena a great deal.

Palutena brought Pit into a tight hug, worried that he might have hurt himself unintentionally. (and right in front of her too!) "No Pit, I didn't do anything. You just spun around too much, that's all." before she could ask him to promise her to never ever do something like that again, Pit interrupted her. "I did that?"

She loosened her grip on him. "Well...yes. I don't think I would want to make you dizzy?"

"Wow...I did that!"

* * *

**-first flight and a second band aid ripping-**

Palutena sat underneath her favorite peach tree in the garden. From there she had a clear view of Pit, who was currently occupying himself picking all sorts of different flowers.

Palutena smiled, even though she was sure to get a panicked visit from the gardener when they found several of their flowers missing. _'You worry too much!'_ she told herself, _'As soon as they see Pit they'll understand!_'

_'...But is it a good idea for more people to know about him?'_ Palutena asked herself. It was no secret that she had her reservations on Pit meeting anyone outside of the temple. Dyntos and some Centurions aside, only her and Medusa knew that Pit even existed. _'Unless Dyntos blabbed to the entire pantheon.'_ probably not. If he did, Angel Land would have been overrun with hundreds of Gods breathing down her neck and trying to confirm Dyntos' gossip by now.

Then there were Pit's own kind. Palutena had no doubt that they would immediately take a liking to him. Just as Humans would immediately welcome a Human child into their protection. After all, Angels were the God's messengers to the Humans. To be able to be the bridge between Humanity and the Gods, Angels needed to be more alike than different to Humans. Save for the wings and increased life span.

Yet despite knowing deep in her heart that no Angel (jury was still out on Gods) would never ever think about harming Pit, Dyntos' warning still worried her. The very idea that any one of them would cause Pit any more suffering was more than she could bear thinking about.

Luckily for her she wouldn't have to worry about it long.

"Great Palutena am I really an Angel?"

Because another bigger problem came to save her just in time! Hooray!

Pit's question shook Palutena to her core. She turned to him, praying that she had heard him wrong. Pit was facing away from her, still sitting by the same patch of yellow flowers she had last seen him by.

"Great Palutena am I-" Palutena stopped him before he could ask again. "Pit did someone tell you you weren't an Angel?" her voice was unusually serious, but this something deadly serious for her. If someone had lied to Pit, Palutena swore that she would make them pay dearly.

When she wanted to, Palutena could be terrifying.

"N-No! I just-um..."

"Pit?" she had made her way over to his side, her heart only hurt more when pit deliberately turned away to not face her.

"You said the flying people were Angels, but I don't fly so high."

Palutena let out a nervous groan, she knew exactly where this was going.

"Why can't I fly up there?" he looked back at his own wings and flapped them.

If it wasn't one thing on Palutena's mind it was the other. Another much smaller problem was that Pit was almost Four-Angel years old and his wings were still not allowing him to leave the ground for even a few seconds. She'd seen other Angel children around his age able to take to the skies for a few minutes at least, and with enough practice they were able to fly all on their own.

It was starting to look like, in the bluntest way possible, Pit's wings weren't going to let him fly.

"Never mind Great Palutena." he turned back to his messy bouquet of flowers. After not hearing an answer from her because she'd been too busy flashbacking, Pit decided that he shouldn't have asked at all. "Oh-no no! Pit I can answer your question!" she laughed nervously patting his worried little head, but what was she nervous about?

Palutena scooted herself over so that she was sitting in front of him and put her hand on his shoulder.

"No!"

"No?! I'm not an Angel?!" Pit squeezed his bouquet so hard that several flowers on the edge flew out in different directions.

"WAIT NO I-AUGH! THATS NOT WHAT I-" Palutena calmed herself down and tried again. The look on Pit's face of pure confusion wasn't doing much to help her calm down. "What I **MEANT** to say is that you **ARE** an Angel!"

"Oh cool!" Pit's wings happily flapped behind him and he went right back to picking flowers for his almost ruined bouquet. It was true that flying isn't what made an 'Angel' an Angel, but Palutena knew and dreaded the day when Pit would start feeling self-conscious about his lack of flight. She would never want him to feel that way, if she could help it.

Without any sort of warning she picked up Pit from the ground and carried him in her arms. "Great Palutena? Are we going somewhere?" in the morning Pit had been carried outside the same way so it wasnt much of a stretch for him to think that Palutena wanted to take him somewhere else. Maybe they were going to eat lunch?...Again.

"Pit how would you like to try flying?"

"Try what-?"

"Perfect!" holding on to him tight with both of her hands, Palutena held Pit right above her head. "Consider this a practice flight! Not close to the real thing but high enough off the ground that if I drop you, we'll have to go to the hospital!"

"Go to the what-?"

With a slight bend of her knees Palutena bent down and a few seconds later she sprang back up, and let Pit go. "Ahhh!" he yelled as he was thrown straight up into the air. It didn't take long for him to come back down and Palutena was more than ready to catch him. Which she did. So no subchapter taking place in the hospital today.

"Tah-dah!" Palutena was more than fine for throwing Pit up in the air. While she was slightly protective of him there was absolutely no danger to be found in throwing a young child in the air. She knew she was fast enough to catch him. It was the things Palutena couldn't control that scared her. "How's that? Fun right?"

"Great Palutena..." his eyes were wide, and he stared up at the clear glass ceiling of the greenhouse. Which YES, I did just remember that it was a word shut up. "Great Palutena I think I'm just falling, not flying." He crossed his arms as his eyes followed shadow of another Angel flying above the garden.

"That's just how flying feels like!"

"It is?" he asked, not sounding entirely convinced.

"It sure is! I used to fly all the time you know?"

"Really?!"

"You bet!"

"Then I wanna go again! Again! Again! AGAIN!" Pit wiggled in her arms in anticipation. "Flyings fun! Its really fun! Come on come on!" despite his insistence Palutena set him back down on the ground.

Much to her surprise he didn't get upset, or even disappointed. Pit got mad, at her specifically. "Hmph!" he turned away with a pout and refused to even look at her. That would show her.

"Pit?" he instinctively looked tried to look back at her but managed to stop himself before he turned all the way. Then he went back to steaming in his childlike anger. Mostly because he was in fact-a child. "Pit we can keep playing but I need to tell you something first. Okay?" Palutena knelt down on her knees again so Pit could hear her better. Pit was getting a little bored of being angry, so he turned around to listen at what very important thing Palutena had to tell him.

"Pit..." she looked him at him and tugged on her dress, "Pit if for some reason you can't fly...then is it alright if I help you fly? Just like today?" Pit showed no sign that what Palutena said had affected him at all,

"If you help me fly, can I fly **really** high?"

"Yes, I suppose so."

"Okay! I'll fly with Great Palutena's help!"

"That's right! I'll help you and we'll both fly together!" Palutena ruffled Pit's hair affectionately and pulled him into a hug, careful not to bend his wings, "So? Who's ready to practice flying again?"

Pit eagerly raised his hand and grinned.

In hindsight, maybe it would have been better if she had waited until Pit was a bit older to ask him about his wings. Pit could barely comprehend the rise and setting of the sun and moon so there was little chance he would be able to comprehend his own body. But he seemed happy, as evidenced by his laughing and his insistence of having Palutena throw him in the air again.

Which she did. for two hours straight.

"Can we go outside again tomorrow Great Palutena?! Can we can we CAAAAN WE?!"

"Of course, Pit."

Now Palutena knew, that whatever trials Pit would have to face. She would be right there, keeping him flying.

At least she hoped she would be.

* * *

**-a giggle shy of a full laugh-**

"Great Palutena!"

Palutena sat up in her half-wakened state to see Pit in front of her, holding a large mysterious bag and looking at her with his usual innocent _'Oh Great Palutena please look at me'_ stare. Here she was, apparently watching over him and now she had no idea where in the world he had gotten...whatever it was he was holding.

"Yes Pit?" she was so SO tired.

Recently she had been plagued with mysterious nightmares of Human villages burning down and rivers overflowing with poison. This was the very reason she wasn't getting as much sleep as she was supposed to.

Palutena considered asking Medusa to cover for some of her duties but the Goddess of Darkness was mysteriously gone by breakfast. _'As usual._' being gone when Palutena needed her most felt like the start of a bad habit to her, but Palutena was a trusting person. She was willing to give Medusa the benefit of the doubt. Until it was too late.

She turned her tired eyes back to Pit, who had been happily bouncing in place for the past few seconds.

"Guess what I have! In the bag!"

She wasn't in the mood to play any kind of games. So she didn't.

"...Great Palutena?"

Palutena closed her eyes and tried to drift back to sleep.

Undeterred and entirely clueless, Pit kept up his game. "There's something in here!" he shook the bag around it rattled loud enough to keep Palutena from fully going back to sleep.

"First clue!" the rattling stopped, "It rhymes with orange!"

Palutena's eyes snapped open. "Pit nothing rhymes with orange." she corrected him.

Pit giggled and reached into the mysterious bag. His hands closed around whatever thing rhymed with orange. Pit looked back at Palutena with a playful glint in his eyes before he threw his hands up in the air. As soon as he did opened his hands, the Goddess had her answer.

"Its hearts!"

The small Angel threw as many hearts into the air as he could. All sorts of hearts scattered across the room, small hearts, half hearts, full hearts even gold hearts.

"A bunch of hearts for Great Palutena!"

To Palutena it felt that the hearts would never end. Pit just kept pulling out more and more hearts out of his bag, _'How many does he have in there? And how did he carry it all the way over here?!'_ While Pit had gathered an abnormal amount of hearts for someone his age, there was also a bit of trickery on his part. As soon as some hearts landed on the ground Pit hurried and picked them back up, throwing them up in the air again. He didn't mean to fool Great Palutena into thinking he was rich, he was just excited to show her his appreciation.

"Pit. Pit, where did you get all this!?"

"I don't knooow!"

* * *

**-curiosity-**

For better or worse Pit was a very light sleeper.

It didn't take much to wake him up from deep sleep. The other night he awoke to the sounds of Palutena's heels clacking on the ground while she walked to the kitchen for a glass of water. Too sleepy to investigate, Pit quickly fell back asleep.

This night however, a constant tapping noise on his window was keeping the Angel wide awake.

"Go away..." in an attempt to drown the noise out the small Angel covered himself up with his own blanket. When that didn't work he added a pillow, then another one. Until Pit was buried under a mound of pillows and blankets, no closer to quieting the noise as he had been since it first started.

"I said go away!" frustrated at the constant noise Pit emerged from his fortress of soft blankets and pillows he had built around himself and walked to the window to give whoever wasn't letting him sleep a piece of his mind. However, once he parted the curtains to look outside, there was nothing there. All Pit could see outside of the window was the same darkness that always covered his windows, courtesy of the Goddess of Darkness herself.

Pit assumed he was successful in scaring off whoever had been making the noise. He silently congratulated himself for a job well done and made a mental note to tell both Great Palutena and Great Medusa in the morning all about his brave feat. They would probably congratulate him and reward him with two whole scoops of ice cream.

With thoughts of what ice cream flavors he'd would choose in the morning running through his mind Pit climbed back into bed and tried to go back to sleep, despite his excitement.

Then there was another tap.

Pit threw off his blanket and screamed, he had lost all of his patience. "Stop it! Or I'm gonna tell on you!" the tapping only got faster and faster.

This time Pit was going to make sure that whoever was making so much noise and keeping him up wouldn't get away. Not this time. The surprisingly agile Angel successfully jumped off his bed and ran as quickly as he could to the closed window.

Then Pit opened the window.

* * *

**-knock knock its-**

A loud scream was heard all through the temple.

Palutena awoke with a jolt and practically flew out of her bed. _'That was Pit. That's Pit's scream!'_ before Palutena could even come up with even the faintest idea of what could have caused Pit to scream out in the middle of the night, she was already up on her feet and running to his room.

The sudden scream had also wakened up Medusa, who slept in a room right next to Palutena's. She was nowhere as jumpy or quick to act as Palutena had been but she was still fast enough to manage to follow her down the hall. "What was that?!" Medusa asked. There was rare genuine panic in her voice, but Palutena completely missed it.

_'It's just like before.'_ hopefully she wouldn't be reckless enough to run straight into danger this time. Without a moment's hesitation, Palutena pushed open the doors to Pit's room and her worst fears were confirmed.

"Underworld monsters?!" Medusa quickly summoned her staff and took aim at one of the Monoeyes that were erratically flying around Pit's room, "How did they get past the forcefield?!" Thankfully, it didn't' take much to take out a group of Monoeyes. A quick Autoreticle here and there, and they would be gone before they could cause any real damage.

"Palutena! A little help here?!"

Palutena was ripped right out of her frozen state, "R-Right!" With her staff Palutena used her powers to illuminate the room, temporarily blinding the Underworld enemies. This made them sitting ducks for Medusa, "Autoreticle!" After one Monoeye was down, most of them quickly followed.

Soon there was only one left.

"Autore-"

"Explosive Flame!" then the last Monoeye exploded, curtesy of Palutena.

Medusa slowly lowered her staff and stared at the black stain on the floor that was left behind in the explosion. "Don't...Don't you think that was a little bit reckless?"

Palutena opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by the sound of quiet crying. "Pit?!" how could she have forgotten about him?! Palutena was prepared to turn Pit's room upside down to look for him, but luckily for Pit's room the shaking pile of blankets near his overturned bed managed to stand out enough for Palutena to notice them right away.

"Pit!"

The shaking blankets stopped and from the pile of safety emerged a terrified Angel. Still sobbing his eyes out, Pit jumped into the arms of the Goddess of Light. "Pit! I'm so glad you're safe!" Palutena embraced him and wasn't about to let go anytime soon. She could feel Pit grab onto her nightgown like his life depended on it, and from what he had just been through he probably felt exactly like that. Palutena gave him a few minutes to calm down.

"Is he...okay?"

Palutena looked behind her and saw Medusa, her face awash with concern and unlike earlier Palutena noticed. "O-Oh he's fine! Just a little scared!" she held him tighter, that earned her a squeak from Pit and she quickly loosened her hold. Medusa looked away in a huff, "Right-! I was just, well uh-" Palutena rolled her eyes and laughed, if there was anyone that she knew that could lighten up a situation it was Medusa.

"You can say you were scared."

"I was worried! There's a difference."

"Suuuure there is."

"There is! Its right there in the dictionary!"

A small laugh interrupted the middle of their really dumb argument. Pit was laughing into Palutena's dress, he was still a little shaken up but the familiar banter between the Goddesses was just enough to calm him down. "And what's so funny? "Palutena teased him. "Nothing!" he answered by not answering. Before Palutena could ask him any more playful questions, Medusa spoke up with her own.

"What happened here Pit?"

"Medusa wait, I don't thi-"

"It was so scary Great Medusa! I was so scared! There was a lot of noise and-and I opened the window to stop it but then-! A bunch of monsters came in and started flying around everywhere! They tried to grab me but I ran away and hid under my bed! But then they knocked my bed over and tried to grab me again! But then I threw my plushies at them! And I think I hit one! Then I hid under my blankets! Then you and Great Palutena came in and beat em' up! The end!"

Medusa let out a rare snort, "Wow a stuffed animal. You meant business."

Pit nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! No one attacks Angel Land! Not even scary monsters!" he stepped away from Palutena and struck a heroic pose, "If there are more monsters I'll throw everything until Great Palutena and Great Medusa get em'! "

"That's actually pretty smart." Pit blushed at the rare compliment from the Goddess of Darkness.

Palutena's smile could not get any wider than it already was. "You were very brave Pit! I'm soooo proud!" she squeezed him tight again, much squeezier than before. "Great Palutena! You're squishing me!" his desperate plea went unheard as Palutena continued hugging the light of her life to the point where Medusa had to remind her to maybe _**maaayyybe**_ lighten up on the affection.

"Palutena I think Pit still needs to breath."

"OH! Right!" Palutena let go of Pit and he fell back with a 'thump!'

"Great Palutena you're so strong! Can I hug you instead?"

"Of course!" with not even a second thought Pit ran up and gave Palutena the tiniest hug you could ever imagine. Palutena hugged him back with an equally small hug. Medusa's arms twitched.

"Can I sleep in your room Great Palutena?"

"...Of course." and that is the story of how Palutena wound up sleeping on the floor for one night. She learned the hard way that Pit was not just a light sleeper, but also quite the rowdy sleeper when she was somehow kicked off her own bed in the middle of the night.

In the end the only casualty of the attack was Pit's lava lamp. After Pit cried for hours about it, Palutena promised to buy him another one.

You know. Eventually.

* * *

**-hey guys i think thats called stealing-**

Recently Pit had taken to being very insistent on spending time with Palutena. She assumed it was due to anxiety over the surprise Underworld attack, so Palutena never protested.

That is how Palutena suddenly found the Angel by her side wherever she went. Whether he was standing by her while she watched over the Humans or following her during her walks of Angel Land, or even accompanying her in overseeing the training of the Centurions.

It was thanks to Pit's sudden clinginess that Palutena found herself engaging in the Angel's games.

That day Pit asked Palutena to play '_Story_' with him. A fun game where Pit would use or put on all sorts of different objects. From clothes, to toys, and even tools. These mysterious things were brought to him by other Angels and Centurions that would gift them to Pit as odd souvenirs from the Overworld. Conveniently leaving out the part where their presents came from. Then Pit, none the wiser, would put them on and act out all sorts of different scenarios, all complete with his own silly voices.

Palutena's opinion on her troops stealing possessions from the Humans aside, she found it nice that the Angels and Centurions cared about Pit enough to think about him when they traveled to visit the Overworld. Though, she couldn't help but be a _little_ worried that Pit would start asking where all this stuff was coming from.

"Great Palutena!"

Pit came running back from his meeting with a returning group of Centurion Knights. That specific group of Centurions had been sent to scout what was left of a village that had suddenly burst into flames overnight.

Palutena had awoken to the sound of hundreds of Humans begging for her to save them, but by the time Palutena found Medusa and they both arrived to the throne room...it was too late to save the poor village and its inhabitants.

_'You did everything you could.'_ Medusa had told her, before leaving the Goddess of light to grieve alone. Palutena knew that Medusa hated looking vulnerable in front of anyone, including her. So she had let her go. Palutena assumed Medusa had left to find peace alone on her own time.

"Great Palutena! Look! Look!" thankfully she still had Pit to cheer her up, his bright smile was always enough to drive away even the darkest of thoughts. She giggled at the happy dancing Angel surrounded by all sorts of strange objects and new toys, "Yes Pit, I see. The Centurions certainly brought a lot of things today didn't they?"

_'It's not like the Humans need them where they're going.' _

Pit happily ignored her question and went digging through his new things. His face lit up when he came by a hat that had formally belonged to an old farmer. It was a large leather hat intended to shield the wearer from the sunlight while they worked in the fields. Pit ran up to her and pointed at his new hat. "Great Palutena! Great Palutena! Look I have a crown now! Just like you!" the hat was much too big for his head and he had to hold it up to keep it from completely covering his eyes.

_'It smells like ashes.'_

"Great Palutena?"

"Ah?" Palutena looked down, Pit was staring right at her (and through her). His small eyes giving the Goddess of Light an obvious look of concern. Pit gripped at his new hat. He knew something was off, but he couldn't quite tell what. Then a candle lit up in Pit's head, there was only one thing he could think of that could be wrong with her!

"Pit?" now it was Palutena's turn to be worried, "Is everything alright?"

"Great Palutena you're acting funny! Are you sick!"

Palutena sniffled, which did nothing to quell Pit's worries that she had suddenly fallen under the weather. Maybe he had a point. "No, I'm fine." Or maybe Palutena was just very stubborn.

"I'll make soup! Like soup I got!" Before Palutena could stop him, Pit took off running towards the kitchen. Forgetting to keep the hat above held up above his eye level. After a few steps it fell over his eyes and everything turned dark. "Ah! I can't see!"

"Pit! Watch out!"

Then Pit fell onto his knees and started crying.

"Pit!" in the blink of an eye Palutena was at Pit's side, "Pit what happened?!" Palutena got her answer when she saw both of Pit's skinned knees. "Ouch." as gently as she could she picked Pit off the ground. As soon as Pit was in her arms, he gripped onto Palutena's dress with his hands and cried right into it. Palutena sighed and started to try and calm the sobbing Angel down. "Pit. Pit, it's going to be okay! We'll get you to a Hot Spring and you'll feel better before you know it!" she took her finger and wiped away a few of his tears. This promise was enough to calm down Pit from full on crying, to lightly sniffling.

"...I want soup."

"First Hot Springs, then we'll get soup? Deal?"

"I want my hat." Palutena sighed and softly patted his head, secretly she had been hoping that Pit would forget and leave his new toys behind. All they were to her was a quick way to remind her of just how much she wasn't doing to help Humans.

Maybe Pit was right. Maybe she was sick. If anything, it was his '_gifts_' that were making her sick to her stomach. But to Pit they were just new things to play with and that wasn't his fault at all.

Palutena's expression hardened and she took in a deep breath. "Just one second..." she held on to Pit tight as she bent down and picked up the hat he'd dropped when he tripped. "There you go." she gently placed the hat back onto his head. Then the hat fell and covered his eyes again. It was still way too big.

When Pit didn't pull his hat back up Palutena decided to play her trump card. The question that always and without fail cheered Pit up. "Pit? Can I ask you something?" Pit looked up at her, his hat tilted down and threatened to fall off his head. Some fresh tears at the corners of his eyes proof enough that he was still not over his little spill despite the promise of Hot Spring time.

"After the soup, would you like some extra dessert?"

"Uh-huh! Yes!" it looked like Palutena's offer did the trick. _'As if there was any doubt.'_ there was no one in Angel Land who could resist the allure of extra desert. A quick thought crossed Palutena's mind, maybe whoever was slaughtering Humans would be satisfied with extra dessert instead.

* * *

**-favorite color-**

Pit took out one last crayon from its box and put the finishing touches on their masterpiece.

"All done!" he put the crayon down and stared down at his work. It was a drawing of Palutena and Medusa, standing beside each other in a white void occupied by a mess of greens and a slightly darker shade of green.

_'Our hair isn't that messy...'_ Palutena wasn't about to critic the work of a four-year-old but she couldn't help but look back at her hair once or twice.

Palutena sat next to the young Angel, she had been watching over him since the morning when Pit had, out of nowhere, expressed a great interest in drawing her and Medusa. After asking around she was lucky to find a used pack of crayons from a couple of Angels and several blank sheets of paper from the library. _'Those papers probably weren't important anyway.'_

While she had supported Pit in their latest endeavor, Medusa on the other hand had other urgent Non-Pit related issues to deal with.

Palutena sighed, "Whatever those are..."

"Great Palutena? Did you say something?"

She looked back at Pit and quickly forgot about her own worries. "Oh no Pit, it's nothing! Just silly Goddess stuff!" she playfully ruffled his hair, poofing it up a great amount. "Nothing to worry your cute little head about!"

"Hmph!" Pit stood and as quickly as he could, hid his drawing behind his back. He glanced at Palutena to make sure she hadn't seen his work of art.

Which of course she had. For several hours. "What's that behind your back? Are you hiding something?!"

"No!" Pit whined, "It's a secret!"

Palutena sighed and reluctantly agreed to cover her eyes, despite seeing him draw the darn thing. "Okay, tell me when."

'When' came sooner than she expected. Since Pit was beyond excited to show Palutena what he'd spent all day working on. He lightly patted Palutena's hands to signal that she could finally uncover her eyes, "Now Great Palutena! Look!" Palutena giggled and slowly began to open her eyes. a little too slowly for Pit's patience, "Great Palutenaaaaa looook!"

Once Palutena felt she made him wait long enough she opened her eyes.

"Ta-da! It's Great Palutena and Great Medusa!"

The drawing was about as good as a four-year-old's first drawing would be. Palutena and Medusa stood side by side, smiling and covered in various scribbles that Pit saw as their outfits. On top of their each of their heads were their respective halos. Palutena's was represented by a giant blue circle while Medusa's was more of a dark blue oval.

Not that Pit knew what either of those shapes were called.

"Wow Pit! You drew this all by yourself?" she said trying her best to act as if she had never seen the drawing before in her life. Thankfully fooling Pit wasn't exactly the hardest thing to do.

Pit beamed with pride, "Yup! I colored all of it!"

_'If by coloring he means scribbling green all over the paper...'_ of course Palutena wasn't going to say that out loud to him. Only a monster would offer actual criticism of a child's drawing. Maybe it was a good thing Medusa had been too busy to help her watch Pit. She frowned, _'Nah, even she wouldn't be that mean.'_

Quickly brushing aside her thoughts on Medusa, Palutena looked back at Pit. His eyes were still on her, waiting on her to say something else about his drawing. After racking her brain for a while, she finally found something else to say, "How did you know green was my favorite color?"

"Really?!"

Palutena nodded, "Mm-hmm! I love it so much even my hair is green!"

"I knew it!" Pit whispered loud enough for Palutena to hear. She rolled her eyes and chuckled before continuing the conversation.

"What's your favorite color?"

"My favorite color is rainbows!" Pit answered immediately.

"Rainbows...?"

"Yup! I like blue, purple, yellow, green...glow in the dark-"

"Glow in the dark?" Palutena debated with herself on whether telling Pit that glow in the dark wasn't an actual color, let alone a color on the spectrum of the rainbow, or letting him keep being wrong. She decided on the former, but she never got a chance to correct him. Because Pit's answer to her question came in the form of him happily pointing to the top of Palutena's head. Directly at her halo.

"I love Great Palutena's glow in the dark!"

* * *

**-pits big day out-**

It was a cold December 10th day when Palutena awoke with a sudden cold and fever.

Because of her unhealthy state she entrusted care of Pit for the day to her trusted friend and co-ruler; Medusa. It was something that she had never asked her fellow Goddess to do, but drastic times called for drastic measures. And it wasn't like Medusa could say no. Once Palutena told Pit that Medusa would be watching him for the day any chance she had of ditching him was gone. Because if there was anything young Pit was, it was obedient.

To a fault.

"Sooooo?" Medusa looked down at said Angel. He sat next to her, his legs going through the safety rails that she was leaning on. "What are we gonna play?" there was no answer from the Goddess of darkness. Pit assumed it was because she hadn't heard him. So the only solution was to ask again, but louder.

"SO WHAT-"

"Stop."

Pit looked at her, confused. 'Stop' didn't sound like something fun to do, it sounded like something really _really_ boring actually. "I don't wanna play stop!" he kicked his legs in frustration, banging the rails loudly. Medusa flinched with every loud banging sound. Her patience had increased by a substantial amount since Pit first arrived. As a result, she could last for quite a while whenever Pit threw his temper tantrums.

But even Goddesses had their limits. "Pit. If I get you a snack will you leave me alone?"

"I like snacks! But Great Palutena said you have to watch me today so you have to come with me!"

Medusa snapped her fingers, Pit was still young but he was nowhere near as dumb as he led people to believe. Or maybe Medusa was just massively unlucky. Given recent events she was more willing to believe the latter. Then again, she might have been luckier than she thought with her recent activities that no one had caught-

Then Medusa felt something wrong.

With no explanation Medusa turned and bolted towards the throne room. "Hey! Where are you going!" Luckily for Pit, Medusa was so caught off guard she forgot she could teleport herself to the throne room. If she had done that instead of running, then maybe Pit wouldn't have followed her.

When Pit finally caught up to Medusa, she was hunched over the All-Seeing-Fountain that Pit was _waaayy_ too short to use. Palutena also ordered him to never go near it, which was a big problem now that his caretaker for the day was right next to it.

Surprisingly, the color grey didn't exist to a four-year-old. It was either right or wrong, black or white. If he got near the fountain he'd be disobeying Palutena, but if he didn't Medusa wouldn't be watching him and then...Palutena would get mad at her!

Sometimes Pit was far too nice for his own good.

"Great Medusa!" he yelled running towards her. Medusa did not pay him any mind and kept her eyes locked on the fountain. _'Why is Great Medusa looking at water?' _Pit liked splashing in water too but just looking at it sounded mega boring to him. Maybe it was a grown-up thing? Like sleeping or eating vegetables.

"Greaaaat Medusaaaa!" he tugged on her dress but Medusa wasn't budging. After an impressively strong pull Pit lost his footing and fell over backwards. "Ow!"

That got Medusa's attention. "Pit?! How did you get here?!"

"I walked!"

"That's not what I-?!"

"What are you looking at!" Pit picked himself up from the ground and ran up to the fountain. Presumably forgetting his previous reservations about even getting near the thing. He hopped up and down trying to get a glance at whatever exciting thing Medusa was looking at. while he couldn't see anything, he could hear some weird noises coming from the fountain. Noises that totally didn't sound like water was supposed to sound like at all. Instead it sounded like...people talking?

'_This temple is supposed to have some expensive stuff inside-'_

_'B-But haven't you heard about the incidents at the other temples?'_

_'The what?'_

_'How haven't you heard?! Word is that every time something happens to one of these stupid things the nearest village gets destroyed. Not to mention the people who go in always wind up dead!'_

_'Yeah! They say its a punishment from the gods!' _

_'You've got to be kidding! Don't tell me you actually believe those stupid rumors?!'_

The conversation was cut short when Medusa slammed down her hands on the fountain. "Ahh!?" Pit jumped in surprise at the sudden noise, he was really concentrated on listening to what the water was saying. Though most of it sounded like nonsense but the part about the Gods caught his attention. Albeit, only a brief second.

"Pit?" Medusa summoned her staff and looked down at the Angel.

"Heh?"

"How would you like to go on a little trip?" a mischievous grin crossed her face. She knew exactly what she was doing and knew that Palutena would never find out. Even if she did, what could she do about it?

"I don't know...tripping hurts."

"...Right."

Darkness enveloped them both and then in an instant, they were gone. As if neither of them had ever been inside the throne room in the first place.

* * *

**-go to a happy place-**

The darkness around Pit slowly faded away, giving light to a strange new place he'd never quite seen before.

This new room wouldn't look out of place being inside of the temple he called home. Along the walls there were the familiar symbols of the Goddess of light and darkness, but something was off...

Everything in the room looked _so_ old, and several of the columns and statues around the room where broken or knocked over. Whatever or wherever this room was it was clear to even Pit that it wasn't being taken care of.

"It's pathetic isn't it?"

Pit looked up, surprised. In his confusion he'd somehow forgotten that it was Medusa herself that brought him to this eerie place. "Where are we?" Pit asked, he hoped it wasn't anywhere too scary. Medusa did not answer. Instead, Pit's answer would come in from behind an opening door.

"Stay behind me." Medusa's tone of voice was serious, the same no-nonsense tone she had when she meant business. Of course Pit followed her orders without question. Something in him felt that if he didn't, he would pay dearly for it. Medusa and Palutena would probably make him eat gross 'healthy' food again.

"Don't say anything and don't do anything" Medusa added. Pit sat behind her and covered his mouth to extra make sure he didn't say anything. If he had two extra hands he would have covered his ears too. Which would have been the better idea in the end.

From his viewpoint there wasn't much he could actually see, but he did manage to see that a bright light was now shining inside the room. _'Great Palutena?'_ he thought, he was tempted to turn around and confirm his suspicions but he stopped himself in the nick of time. _'Maybe we're gonna surprise her!_' A surprise party would be nice! Just like the party she and Great Medusa had thrown for him once! That party was fun there was candy and cake and ice cream and-

"Instant death."

The Goddess' words were cold and devoid of any remorse. Pit had never heard her like that before. Not even when she was mad at him.

At first it sounded like only one someone was screaming, then there was another, then another. Pretty soon it sounded like there were multiple people screaming out in pain. Pit's hands instantly went from his mouth to his ears. He closed his eyes and imagined he was back somewhere he knew. Back in his room playing with Great Palutena. Yeah that was it. They were playing. He and Great Medusa were playing.

This was all a game and it wasn't real.

Pit giggled and the screaming stopped. Medusa let out a long sigh and kicked aside a Human who had tried grab onto her dress in a desperate attempt to stay alive. "Pathetic." she turned back to Pit, whose ears were still fully covered. Instead of terrified like Medusa expected him to be, he was happily swaying side to side singing to himself. It was the lullaby that Palutena liked to sing to Pit whenever he had trouble sleeping.

"Pit."

He stopped. "Are we done playing." it wasn't a question he asked, it was a statement. Deep down he knew what happened was no game but of course it had to be a game. If it wasn't, then what was it?

Medusa stepped aside, "We weren't playing Pit. You can look now." Pit slowly lowered his hands and grabbed at his tunic. He stood up from where he had sat down to hide and turned around.

The empty room was no longer empty. There were unmoving figures all over the ground, many of them piled up on each other. There was one that was really close but it was fine. Its all fine. "When did they get here?" that wasn't the first question that Medusa had expected Pit to ask. In fact, it was so out of the blue that she couldn't help laugh at it. "Pfft, they just got here."

"Ooooh!"

A figure fell lifelessly from a pile with a thump. "Eep!" Pit jumped, that's when Pit noticed something very strange. The bodies lying on the ground looked a lot like Angels but they didn't have any wings. "Huh?" Pit carefully walked over to a body that was laying on its stomach. Its back was entirely wingless. "Huuuh?" Pit said again, nothing was adding up. Medusa stared silently at Pit, she knew what question was coming and she was happy to answer it.

"Great Medusa? Are they Angels?"

"No Pit."

"What are they?"

Medusa's stared grew dark as she stepped closer to Pit. "These are Humans."

That did not answer Pit's question at all. Considering he did not know what in Angel Land a 'Hue-men' was. Medusa could tell by his extremely confused expression that her answer had not been enough, clearly. She would have to explain Humans in greater detail.

"Humans are things that live on the Overworld. AND before you ask the Overworld is under Angel Land. Its not that great a place honestly. Humans are everywhere, there are wars every ten seconds and the humidity is horrible."

Pit looked back at the 'Human' he stood by. Humans sure looked a lot like Angels to him. He picked up the arm of one and flopped it down. They sure didn't move as much as Angels did either. He felt kinda sad for them, they didn't have wings like him or the other Angels. How did they fly without them? They were never going to get to Angel Land at that rate!

That's when Pit finally realized-

"I'm under Angel Land?!"

"That's right"

"We're gonna get in trouble! "

"Keep your head on Pit, we'll be fine. As long as we don't tell Palutena."

Pit gasped, the thought of not telling Great Palutena anything was something that was unheard of! Not to mention, it just didn't sound right! Especially when it was something as important as telling her about the entire new land under Angel Land. Great Palutena would probably think it was really cool!

Lately he was running into a lot of problems like this. (or maybe it was just today?) To obey one Goddess he had to disobey the other. Pit scratched his head, there was no middle ground he could think of! He couldn't tell Great Palutena the truth and lie to Great Medusa that he didn't tell her, that was still lying to one of them! Pit was getting tired of having to make these sorts of hard decisions.

So he didn't. And decided to listen to Medusa's orders, it was way easier that way. Why didn't he think of that sooner!

With that moral conundrum out of the way, Pit's natural curiosity decided to make itself known.

"Um, Great Medusa?"

"Yes?"

"You said '_Huemens'_ live in the '_Over Word'_?"

"That's right. I guess."

"Are they always sleeping?"

"No, usually they're a lot livelier." Pit looked at her, confused on her choice of words. "They're...usually moving."

"Oh! Then-! Then why aren't they moving now?"

Medusa looked around at the Human looters that had dared to vandalize one of her temples. She could tell Pit the truth about how she decided to punish their crimes by ending their lives. About how angry it made her that Humankind had forgotten all about her and Palutena, to the point where none of them batted an eye when their temples collapsed due to neglect. How she never got any thanks for her hard work.

She could tell Pit all about how she was determined to make Humanity remember the Gods again, no matter the cost.

But Pit was too young to understand and too much like Palutena.

"Remember this Pit, Humans are _nothing_ but horrible creatures ruled by greed. All they do is take and take with no regard to who they might hurt-Who they **did** hurt."

"Great Medusa...I don't...?"

"We provide for them all they need to survive..." she laughed, "...and yet they have no respect for the Gods." Humankind had forgotten all about them and everything the Gods sacrificed to make sure they lived long and peaceful lives. Medusa couldn't stand it. She did all this for them and for what-? A forever of being ignored and forgotten? Her counterpart, Palutena, constantly reminded her to take solace in the smiles of Humans and the knowledge that she was helping make their short lives easier. But she knew Palutena was just too ignorant to see the truth herself.

Medusa knew that Humans needed a reminder of a Goddess' powers. To show them just how good they had it, show them what could happen if they anger the Gods. Humankind needed a wake-up call.

Medusa heard a small whimper and finally turned her attention back to Pit.

The young Angel was staring blankly ahead, trying to process Medusa's words. It was quite a lot to take in for a child who had just barely learned there was a whole other world under him he never knew about.

This was real. It was really real.

And Humans?

Humans sounded horrible.

He stared up at the Goddess of Darkness, hoping that everything she had told him was a lie. The cold look on her face was confirmation enough for Pit that everything she said was true. Pit knew Medusa would never lie. She was always brutally honest, especially with him.

"I wanna go home."

Medusa nodded silently, her job here was done for today. She was confident that Pit would keep his mouth shut on what they did. The Angel was obsessed on staying on the good side of both Goddesses, and the easiest way to manage that would be to keep quiet. Maybe he could even start coming with her. Despite her reputation for having no friends besides Palutena, she did want companionship. Medusa wouldn't mind having someone else that understood why she was doing this.

"Pit. If Palutena ever tells you about Humans-"

Pit stepped closer to Medusa as his surroundings turned dark again.

"Don't let Palutena tell you otherwise."

* * *

**-local author makes themselves sad-**

The birds were singing, the sun was shining, and another village was up in flames.

So far it was a typical start of the day for both Goddesses. However, instead of waking up and facing the music Palutena instead opted to sleep in. Maybe that way she wouldn't have to deal with the consequences of her actions, or lack of. It was a long shot, but it was worth trying. Except being alone in her room was massively boring.

Then there were two small knocks at her door. There was only one person in Angel Land that she knew was polite enough to knock that quietly on her door, and she was in no mood to talk with him.

After Palutena didn't answer the first two knocks she had expected to hear him walk away, but instead he spoke up.

"Great Palutena! Good morning! The Centurions said breakfast is ready! I came to get you cause _cause_ you weren't outside and when I called for you, you didn't come and I can't find Great Medusa too! So I came to get you!" she heard the telltale sounds of his feet dancing around the marble floor. "Come on Great Palutena lets go eat! The sandwiches looked really yummy so they gotta taste really good! I don't know if there's any gross vege-tables in them though! I hope there's not. But-! If there are I don't haf-ta eat them right? You can eat them for me! I just wanna eat cake! Oh! Great Palutena can we eat cake?!"

Palutena let out a soft laugh, if there was anything or anyone that could still manage to cheer her up these days; it was Pit. He was such a good-natured and lovable goofball that it was literally impossible for anyone to ever be mad at him.

With a loud sigh she lifted herself off the bed and quickly changed out of her nightgown. Palutena looked over herself in the mirror. She didn't look any different than she did fifteen years ago, but her hair did look much more unkempt than usual. She blamed it on the new stresses she had to deal with recently. "You can do this Palutena. You have to do this." she didn't have much of a choice anyway, but as long as she had Pit there was at least something she had to look forward to. He would always be with her and in turn she would always be there for him.

Palutena opened her doors and got ready to face the day, with Pit at her side.

* * *

**-violent detector-**

The temple, a shadow of its former self, was empty and rotting. The Centurion army was nowhere to be seen. The Angels had all flown away in fear of their lives. The ones that had foolishly stayed behind were all killed.

Angel Land was in ruins.

The Overworld fared no better, it was unrecognizable. Cities were burning, rivers overflowed with poison, crops had dried and the land was covered in ashes. It was an absolute disaster. Humanity was almost completely wiped out. And the Humans that did remain? They all called out to the Goddess of light, but not for help. They cursed her name and all that she stood for. She hadn't helped. She had done nothing for them.

For some reason or another Palutena herself was standing in the remains of a village. What was she doing there? It didn't make sense. Nothing was making sense. She looked out through the ruins for any signs of life. She spotted a dark figure, not matter how hard she tried she couldn't tell who or what it was, even though it was standing right in front of her. Then the figure, with no remorse in its eyes, looked down. Palutena's eyes followed theirs and she was meet with Pit lying motionless on the ground. He was gone. They were all gone.

Because.

Of.

Her.

Palutena jolted herself awake, gasping for air. Her arms flailed wildly trying to grab something that was never there. It took a few more seconds until Palutena calmed down enough to realize that she wasn't on the Overworld. She was in her room. In her temple in Angel Land. Safe and sound.

and useless.

* * *

**-say your goodnights-**

Palutena eyes began to slowly close, before she snapped them wide open.

Time had blended into itself and Palutena had no idea how long she had been sitting at Pit's bedside while he slept. She kept her eyes peeled on the fragile angel, watching as his chest rose and fell with every breath that he took.

_'He's okay. He's okay.'_

The same phrase repeated itself in Palutena's head throughout the night. Palutena knew she could have tried to go back to sleep at any time, but she knew she wouldn't be able to. Not with Pit's safety constantly at the back of her mind.

_'He's okay. He's alive.'_

Her nightmare had been so vivid. Every time she did manage to close her eyes all she saw was the horrifying clear image of Pit laying in the ruins of a burning city. All around him were hundreds of Humans she had failed right alongside him. It was so real, she swore she could feel the heat coming off the flames. She hated it. She really hated it!

She hated being useless! What kind of Goddess can't even protect her subjects?! The mysterious attacks on her Humans had been going for well over fifteen years now, and she and Medusa were nowhere near close to solving them as they had been when they first started. Palutena couldn't blame Medusa for her own shortcomings. She was sure the Goddess of darkness felt as guilty as she did. She probably even felt worse than Palutena. Medusa was a proud Goddess, she took pride in her own powers and abilities, and not being strong or smart enough to stop the attacks was probably eating away at her. That was a large reason why Palutena rarely brought up the incidents when Medusa was around. There was no need to cause her more stress.

Pit took a shuttering breath and Palutena was wide awake again. She held her breath while Pit went back to breathing in rhythm.

_'He's okay'_ she repeated.

Without thinking (and still half asleep) she reached out and gently held Pit's hand in hers. Pit didn't stir, not even a bit. But he did smile. Somehow, he must have known that Palutena was near, at least that's what she told herself. Maybe he was just having a good dream. _'At least that makes one of us._' though Palutena didn't want to, she slowly let go of his hand. Even without her physical touch Pit's smile remained. It was the same smile she had seen for years. The same sweet smile she saw all those years ago when she promised she would always protect him and keep him safe, which of course are the same thing but that's just how much Palutena meant it.

Aside from mishaps here and there, Palutena kept her promise. Pit was safe and he was alive. There was nothing that was going to change that anytime soon.

_'I'm okay.'_

She was a good Goddess. One of the best. An equal to Medusa in power, intelligence and kindness. And that night she swore she would get to the bottom of the mysterious incidents, for the sake of all of Humanity, for Medusa, and for Pit.

* * *

**-official centurion babysitting-**

It was a hot summer day when Palutena made the horrible decision of letting Pit near Angel Land's Centurion army.

"Great Palutena! Great Paluteeeennaaa!"

The sounds of pair of small footsteps clicking on the marble floor grew closer and closer. Palutena did not bother to move away from her All-Seeing-Eye, what she was doing was important and Pit would surely understand that protecting Humans came first and he came second.

Unless Pit asked directly then he was always first on her list. Even if Pit even knew what Humans were. Which he did not.

"Great Palutena! Look! Please look!" he had finally reached her and by the sound of it he had some important news for her. It was probably another cool rock or stick he had found on the ground. Pit had quite an affinity for showing her things he had never seen before and thanks to his extended stay inside the temple those included incredibly mundane things.

"Great Palutenaaaaaa!" he was getting desperate for her attention now. Surely a quick look away from the fountain wouldn't hurt. It's not like the mysterious attacker would set another village aflame while her attention was on Pit for a few seconds. Right?

"Yes Pit?"

"Great Palutena! Look at what the Centurions gave me!" In his tiny _tiny_ hands Pit held a fully operational Viper Staff. "Isn't it cool!? It makes funny noises!" Pit waved it around haphazardly. then it fired.

That was the last time Palutena made the conscious decision to let Pit anywhere near the Centurions.

* * *

**-a visitor. but watch out!-**

Another day dragged on and that morning Pit had been given strict orders to stay in his room, no matter what happened. Palutena hadn't given any reason why he needed to do this and Pit didn't find it important to ask why.

He decided to keep himself busy by playing with his usual toys and continuing his favorite ongoing story he acted out with them. It was a story Pit created himself. A story with a plotline that was filled with twists, turns, and plenty of good original ideas. "Your days are numbered underworld monsters! Prepare to face the Goddess of Light and the Goddess of Darkness!" Pit said repeating word for word what Palutena always said whenever she joined played along with him. She had a tendency to be very dramatic, even when it was beating up fake monsters.

A pair of ragdoll Goddesses stood side by side getting ready to face the evil of a crudely drawn Monoeye on a piece of paper. Pit smirked, with the power of both Palutena and Medusa on his side there was no way any Underworld monster stood a chance of scaring him! "Black hole!" shouted the Medusa doll. a black hole appeared and sucked in the Monoeye, trapping it in its vacuum.

Or at least it should have, just do me a favor and play along for a few more sentences.

Yup. There is totally a black hole in the middle of his room. (you're doing great!)

Pit was confident he had them on the ropes now! "You're going dooown!" the Palutena doll said taking aim at the terrified Monoeye. The Monoeye in return said nothing because Pit could not figure out what a Monoeye would sound like. Probably scary, but whatever. "Ought to reticle!" the Medusa doll said firing her blasts of darkness straight at the Underworld monster. The blast cut straight through the Monoeye, destroying it by cutting it into pieces.

After Pit finished ripping the Monoeye drawing in half he went back and grabbed both dolls, holding them up triumphantly. "Yeah! Piece of cake! Piece of cake! Leaning tower of pisa cake!" he danced around with both dolls in his hands. All three of them had saved Angel Land from the threat of Underworld monsters and now everyone could sleep peacefully! No more being scared of getting attacked in the middle of the night that's for sure!

This era of peace however, was short lived, because as soon as Medusa and Palutena were going to high-five there was a deafening banging noise coming from outside.

Pit couldn't hide under his bed fast enough. All of the courage he had shown fighting the terrifying monster was all but gone, replaced with abject terror at whatever was big enough to make such a scary noise. "Great Palutena? Great Medusa?" Pit asked, still shivering under the bed, "Is that you...? Are you scaring me?"

No one answered him. It was starting to look like Pit would have to find his own answers to his questions. Which he really **really** didn't want to do. After it looked like the danger had passed, Pit peeked out slightly from under his bed. He kept himself quiet just in case there was something in the temple that could hear him.

The temple had gone back to being silent, as quiet as it had been when Pit was playing. That probably meant that everything was okay and that maybe the banging noise was nothing to worry about. The explanation could have been as simple as Great Medusa knocking a large set of columns down again. Maybe a Strongarm crashed into the side of the temple again? Or maybe Great Palutena had tried to cook...again. If Pit was at an age where he could legally bet he would put all of his hearts on that last one.

He stuck his tongue out in disgust, remembering the last meal Angel Land had eaten when Palutena tried to cook. The meal itself hadn't even looked edible, but nobody wanted to hurt her feelings, so they had just grinned and bared it. Then everyone dumb enough to eat the food all suffered from the stomach flu for a straight week.

Pit finally felt relaxed enough to come out of hiding. He sighed in relief, it looked like whatever that noise was nothing to worry about. He quietly tip-toed over the where he had thrown both of his dolls when he had run for cover. "I'm sorry for throwing you! " Pit said apologizing to his beloved dolls. Which I'm sure they would have appreciated if they were alive and capable of emotions.

Another batch of Underworld monsters were soon to begin attacking, but before Pit could get to work drawing another enemy for the Goddesses to fight there was an unusual voice behind his door that he'd never heard before.

"-something about this sudden wave of-" the voice faded away before whoever-that-was finished saying whatever it was that they were saying.

"What was that?" Pit asked himself and only himself because as we established before any dolls in his room are devoid of life. As carefully as he could Pit put his ear against the door to his room, trying to get a better listen at whoever was talking. Instead of talking however, there were very loud footsteps.

And then there was talking.

"I KNOW Poseidon! Ah-Don't you dare give me that look Zeus!" that was Great Palutena's voice! He could recognize her voice from miles away. But there was something wrong, he had never heard her so talk like that before.

"You would do well to watch your tone young Palutena." there was another voice Pit didn't recognize. They sounded old. And grumpy.

"She's right. We have this under control Poseidon." and that was Great Medusa's voice. She sounded as serious as ever. Not that that was a bad thing! Great Palutena always said that it was good that Great Medusa was like that. It helped keep her in check. Whatever that meant.

"Under control? You call hundreds of destroyed cities and villages under control?! You two were put in charge of protecting Humanity and so far I have seen nothing but failure from you both!" Pit didn't understand a lot of the words the angry old voice had yelled, but he was sure of one thing. He sounded really mad.

For the longest time no one said anything else and Pit thought they had all left, but no one had taken a step.

"We're trying! Okay..." Great Palutena sounded really sad...

"Trying isn't good enough anymore Palutena!" and that voice still sounded really mad. At her.

The sound of footsteps running away immediately followed that last outburst. While Pit had voices memorized, he didn't have footsteps memorized. At least not yet. "Palutena! Wait!" Medusa cried out. Pit heard another pair of footsteps follow the same way the last ones went. He wasn't sure what had just happened, but both Palutena and Medusa both sounded a lot more upset than usual. Did those other pair of mysterious voices have anything to do with that?

"It's as I suspected. Neither of them are ready for the task of protecting Humanity.

"I don't understand. They had been doing a fine job until now. What could have changed Zeus?"

Pit's door moved slightly, causing the young Angel to quickly step back. He forced himself to stay quiet. There was no reason to do so, but something inside him felt like it was the smart thing to do.

"I'd wager that the little problem in this room is more than a bit responsible for taking away their attention from their responsibilities. Raising a child is arduous work, after all. Taking care of Humanity and a child cannot go hand in hand. In the end Palutena and Medusa will have to choose one or the other."

Pit slumped down onto his knees. It couldn't really have been his fault could it? He'd done as he was told and stayed in his room so then why-? Why was this his fault? And what did the voice mean by 'choosing.'

Great Palutena and Great Medusa would never choose Humans over him. They wouldn't! They couldn't!

"...right?"

* * *

**-its falling apart-**

Pit threw another one of his feathers off the edge of Angel Land. It fell slowly, SO slowly. After an agonizing long wait the feather finally disappeared beyond the familiar wall of clouds of his home.

Since the day he first saw the clouds Pit always wondered what could be hiding under them. Was there anything under them at all? It was only a few months ago, thanks to Great Medusa, he finally got his answer to that lingering question. In a way he was grateful she had told him about the Overworld but on the other hand, maybe it would have been better if he had never known.

Because there was no going back now. Pit knew about Humans and the Overworld, and Great Palutena didn't know that he did.

The answer was simple, he could tell her about his and Great Medusa's trip to the Overworld that fateful day. _'I'm gonna tell Great Palutena!'_ but there was one problem. Great Medusa had given him strict orders to not tell Palutena about it. At first Pit had been confused why he couldn't tell Palutena about their visit to the Overworld, but the more he thought about it the more he realized what Great Medusa was trying to do.

She was trying to make sure he didn't get in trouble with Great Palutena. If Great Palutena found out he left Angel Land and saw some scary Humans she would be very mad because he broke the rules. He wasn't exactly sure what rule he had broken but he was sure he broke at least one! Why would Great Medusa tell him to keep it a secret otherwise? _'Great Palutena would never get mad...That's what Great Medusa does! Great Palutena doesn't get mad!'_

Pit knew that lying was bad, but was disobeying one Goddess the right thing to do when you were disobeying the other?

This was all too much for a five-year-old to comprehend.

"Um-Great Palutena?" Pit plucked out another feather and held in between two of his fingers, "I have a question."

Palutena had been sitting on a nearby bench enjoying the peace and quiet for a change. "Hmm? What is it Pit?" loose feathers aside there was nothing else that stood out as any warning signs to Palutena. Whatever question Pit had for her would probably be simple enough for her to answer. It would be absolutely no trouble at all. Today had been smooth sailing so far so why would Pit's question be any different?

"Is there stuff under of Angel Land?"

"Of course there is!" she answered quickly. Pit almost fell over in shock, he couldn't believe that his question was answered so casually. "Why didn't you tell me about it?" Pit quickly flapped his wings causing more loose feathers to fly around him. In truth while he was confused, he was absolutely elated that he didn't have to keep his secret from Palutena anymore. Once he got the chance to tell her at least.

"I never thought it was worth mentioning!"

"Huuuuuh?!"

Palutena stood up from the bench and made her way over to where Pit sat, "What I mean is-I never thought it was worth mentioning until I told you about Humans. Actually...I never really thought about when I would tell you about them. But I suppose now's a better time than ever!"

Pit looked away and shuffled uncomfortably where he sat. Though his trip with Great Medusa was short he could still vividly remember the group of Humans he saw. The warnings about them that Great Medusa had given him were also still fresh in his mind.

_**'Don't let Palutena tell you otherwise'**_

Pit wing's nervously twitched.

Palutena either did not notice how uncomfortable Pit had become or otherwise quickly wrote it off as another one of his odd quirks. "Right! So, let's see...where do I begin?" there were so many things Palutena could tell Pit about Humanity she didn't know where to start. She could tell them all about how Humans grew and hunted for their own food, or maybe she could tell him about how they created their own legends and stories revolving around Angel Land OR she could tell him about how Humans used to leave her offerings in the form of food and small gifts. _'Those were the days...'_

"Great Palutena? Are Humans shell-fish?" Pit asked, trying to repeat what Great Medusa called the Humans back at the temple.

"What?" was Pit joking around? From the look on his face he was 100% serious about his question, which only confused Palutena even more. "Shell-fish...? Pit do you mean selfish?" she had heard Humans described as 'Shellfish' for almost her entire life, so she was used to hearing that word whenever Humans were the topic. Even if the word was jumbled around by the limited vocabulary of a child, but she had never expected Pit of all people to describe Humans that way. It was especially troubling to her when she considered the undeniable fact that Pit had learned about the existence of Humans only just a few minutes ago.

"Yeah! Selfish!" he said repeating the word he still had no idea what really meant, but if he learned anything that day it was that it was bad. Just like Humans.

"I...don't know where you heard that from, and I don't want to know." Palutena had her suspicions on where Pit could have heard that sort of misinformation, because despite Angels being the living bridge between the Heavens and Humanity, Palutena knew that there were a few among them with a sour outlook on Humanity as a whole. With all the time Angels spent near the Overworld some of them were sure to see the nastier side of Humanity and no matter how much Palutena would show them the positives most had already made up their one-track minds. So, maybe Pit had overheard a few Angels gossiping about their visit to the surface and got curious on what on earth they were talking about?

That must have been it. "Anyway Pit, yes there are some Humans that are selfish but they're not all like that! Trust me!"

Pit did trust her, to a worrying degree. "Okay Great Palutena..." another feather fell from Pit's wings and landed not too far from Palutena, she picked it up and looked it over. Pit's feathers were falling faster than they were growing back. Palutena had asked around to other Angels to find out why this could be happening but the only two answers she got from them was that either Pit was molting, and she was positive it wasn't that time of the year yet. Or Pit was stressed, and that couldn't be it either. What was there for Pit to be stressed about?

That's when Palutena had a perfect idea. An idea that was sure to get Pit's mind off of whatever could be stressing him, if anything at all. "Pit?" she asked trying to get his attention from watching another of his feathers slowly fall down into the clouds. "Yes Great Palutena?" he looked up at her. He really hoped that Great Palutena would drop the topic on talking about Humans. Since he knew deep down that whatever she told him about them was wrong. Great Medusa had said so and she had said it first. So she had to be right.

"How about you and I take a trip down to see the Humans ourselves?" she asked, extending her hand out for him to grab onto. Her plan was to take him to a nearby Human marketplace and maybe buy him some sweets and lunch. Once he was there, he could see Humans up close and see they were nothing to be wary of. Not to mention they could get a tasty snack too.

Pit's reaction to her proposal was the farthest thing Palutena could have imagined.

"No! I don't want to!" he clumsily shuffled to his feet and forcibly pushed his way past Palutena. Something he'd never done before today. Palutena was speechless, it took a few seconds for her to collect her thoughts and comprehend that what just happened, really did happen. "Pit...?" now she was worried. What could he have heard about Humans that would warrant that sort of extreme reaction? "Pit!" she cried out after him, whatever it was that scared him away she was going to get to the bottom of it!

...Later. She would get to the bottom of it later. Right now causing Pit more stress was the last thing she wanted to do. "Maybe those Angels were right? Oh, poor Pit..." whoever it was that had caused her Angel to stress about Humans of all things would face her wrath.

Much sooner than she realized.

* * *

**-palutenas latest mistake and pits first selfless act-**

The sun rose on another day.

The light of the sun illuminated the smoldering remains of another destroyed Human village. This extremely unlucky town had been overrun by a wave of molten lava overnight.

Palutena silently walked through what remained of the town. There wasn't much that survived, including its inhabitants. A few buildings stood tall through the ordeal, but most had been either melted away or buried in the new ground created by the cooling lava. Palutena quickly looked away and tried her best not to break down there and now. She needed to be strong, her Humans needed her now more than ever. Even if she couldn't save this town there was always hope that she could save the next.

At this point though...could she? With all the evidence gathered from the attacks so far Palutena had come up with a theory, an impossible one. She didn't want to believe it at first but now with this most recent and absurd attack there was no denying it.

This was the work of a God.

'_But which one? And why would they?'_ Palutena was in no position to go accuse whatever God she suspected of attacking Humans. As a God herself she had her own realm to think about and if she angered a God enough for them to attack her realm...

No. No she shouldn't think like that.

Suddenly a cold shiver went down her spine. "Oh no." Palutena immediately ducked down behind a pile of conveniently knocked over crates. The feeling of impending doom and death was too familiar to her by now. Because where there were Human casualties there were sure to be-

" Repears." her instincts were rarely wrong and now was no different. Where Palutena had been standing just a few seconds ago there was a large Repear collecting the soul of a Human. They were only doing their job so she couldn't really blame them for anything. She only wished that they weren't so creepy about doing it.

"-or they could at least hurry it up." Reapers were known across the heavens for being the absolute most dangerous thing you could get seen by. That meant that any divine being that was smart stayed as far as they possibly could from sites of great Human tragedy. Palutena had taken a gamble in visiting the site of an attack so early after it had happened, but she was confident she would be in and out before any Repears showed up.

Now that she was cowering for her life behind a pile of burnt crates, she was seriously starting to reconsider her last-minute decision. "I'm glad Medusa isn't here." she whispered to herself. Then in a case of dramatic irony Palutena decided to take a quick peek to check if the Reaper was still lurking around. It had looked plenty occupied with the Human soul just a few moments ago so Palutena hoped that would still be the case.

And judging from the Reaper staring her right in the face. That was clearly. Not the case.

"Ah..." the Reaper starred at her in silence, almost as if it weren't staring at her but past her. Its eyes were bulged out and its mouth was open wide, ready to scream. The Reaper had spotted her, but an eerie silence still hung in the air. Then, before Palutena could do anything about it, the Reaper raised its scythe and let out a chilling screech. The scream was heard all through the ruins of the town, alerting the surrounding Reapers about the presence of the Goddess of light. It also happened to summon their underlings, the always dutiful and never late Reapettes.

Palutena wasted no time in taking off running. The less Reapettes were on her trail, the easier it would be to get back to Angel Land.

This was easier said than done however, because of the smoke still hanging over the town Palutena found herself tripping into more Reapers. Then those Reapers summoned even more Reapettes, that by the time Palutena was finally out of the ruined town there was a literal cloud of Reapettes chasing after her.

"No no no no..." panic completely overtook her and Palutena ended up freezing in fear right outside the town entrance. The Reapettes were still on her trail and were showing no signs of letting up. There was no way she could go back up to Angel Land now, and there was nowhere else for her to hide. It was starting to look like she would have to fight off the hundreds of Reapettes all by herself.

Which wasn't a problem, really. But, Palutena had to admit that the large amount Reapettes was a bit daunting. Not to mention she could still hear the screaming and the annoying four second song loop of the Reapers still heading for her. Those guys were a _**little **_tougher than the Reapettes, and while Palutena was sure she could handle one (maybe two) she was positive she saw at least seven Reapers on her way out soooo...that was _kind of_ a problem.

Palutena swallowed her fear and summoned her staff, ready to take on the Reapettes who were eagerly getting closer and closer to her. "Okay, just one Mega Laser and that'll take care of all of them!" she laughed and grinned, "I hope."

Then in another stroke of bad luck that showed that not even Gods could predict what was to come next, Palutena heard the distinct sounds of flapping wings. "Reapers don't have wings."

But Centurions do.

"Lady Palutena is everything-? WOAH!" by complete chance a group of Centurion Knights had been patrolling the mountains around the ruined town. They followed their orders and begin to scout for survivors. They would have never imagined to run into the Goddess of light while doing their job. They also never imagined she would set off about ten Reapers at the same time.

"Its kind of impressive if you think about huh?" they nonchalantly asked each other while they were all about to be obliterated by a wave of Reapettes.

"What are you doing!" Palutena turned away from danger to yell at her Centurions, "Please get out of here! Head back to the temple!" It was true Reapettes were no real danger for a Goddess like her, but she had her well-earned doubts that a Centurion (even if there were three of them) would be able to survive even second against them.

"R-Right! Lady Palutena! Centurions! Back to base!" they saluted her and wished her good luck before taking off back home. Palutena sighed and wondered if maybe Medusa had been right in thinking that they should train their Centurion army more than they had. At least then they wouldn't be a laughingstock among the other armies of the heavens. But there would be plenty of time to think about that once she was out of danger.

With staff in hand and a Mega Laser ready to fire, Palutena turned back around to face-

-an absence of an army of Reapettes.

"Huh?" the Reapettes that had followed her relentlessly through the town, were gone. They had all completely vanished.

That couldn't be right could it? Had they gotten so bored of her talking to the Centurions, that they gave up on her and went back to helping their bosses direct Human souls to the Underworld? Or maybe she'd just left their area of effect. Whatever the case, it looked like Palutena had won by essentially doing nothing.

...But it couldn't be that easy.

Her gut instinct was yelling at her to turn around, but there was something else in her that was begging her to stay right where she was. Ultimately Palutena decided to listen to her gut and turned around to face the direction the Centurions had flown in. "Oh no..." For better or for worse the mystery of the missing Reapettes was solved. They hadn't given up at all.

They just changed targets from her, to the three Centurions heading back home. Which meant that not only were the unsuspecting Centurions in danger, Angel Land and all its inhabitants were in danger.

Palutena's heart dropped and only a single word escaped her gritting teeth. "Pit...!"

It was extremely rare for Palutena to use her warp ability to teleport anywhere. Usually the Goddess would completely forget she had that power. Instead she got around by either walking or gently gliding down on her staff to get to places that were below Angel Land.

This time however her response was immediate, and without even meaning to, in the blink of an eye Palutena found herself back in throne room's entrance.

Palutena looked around in shock, forgetting seconds that Angel Land was only minutes away from being potentially overrun by a small army of monsters. The throne room wasn't where she had immediately wanted to be, but it was close enough.

At least she hoped it was close enough. With no other thought racing through her head than her concern for Pit's safety, she took off running towards his room.

While on her way there she heard the rarely used and hardly needed Centurions call to prepare for battle. The Reapettes must have breached the forcefield while the Centurion Knights were coming back in. "Or Medusa forgot to turn it on before she left." if Palutena was going to be bold enough to blame Medusa for this, the least she could do was take half of them blame. After all, the forcefield being off wouldn't be a big problem if Palutena hadn't lead an army of Reapettes to Angel Land. Then again, the blame could actually be divided into thirds between her, Medusa and the Centurions who actually finished leading the Reapettes to Angel Land.

Palutena would have probably found the whole thing funny if she wasn't part of the reason this whole mess was happening.

"AUGH! What am I doing?!"Palutena thankfully caught herself before she entered a loop of getting distracted and missing the actual important thing that mattered right now.

And that very important thing was not in his room.

"Pit?!" Palutena's hands flew up to her face in horror. "Pit!" she called again hoping that he was still somewhere in his room hidden away from her and had not heard her first cry_. 'Is he under the bed?!'_ was Palutena's next thought of where he could be. She took the bed and flipped it over, and as it turns out there was nothing under there but a pile of old forgotten toys and some dust. "No **no no no**...!" there wasn't anywhere else he could hide from her or the Reapettes.

Unless.

"Pit isn't in his room." another loud noise came from outside and Palutena recognized it as the Centurion call to battle. The Centurion army were about to start a battle with the Reapettes, and Pit was nowhere to be found.

"There's no way the Centurions can handle all those monsters on their own!" sure she always encouraged them to fight as hard as they could and to keep up with their (quite frankly, pathetic) training, but the Centurions were nowhere near strong enough to face down an army of Underworld monsters. Not without a few casualties at least. Palutena had to make a last-minute decision. Either to help the Centurions face-off against the Reapettes and defend and those who couldn't defend themselves. Or find Pit.

Without even a second thought Palutena summoned her staff to her side. "_Please_ be safe Pit."

In the blink of another eye Palutena was suddenly fighting in the air with the Centurion Knights. Many of whom almost met their untimely end out of surprise of suddenly seeing the Goddess of light fighting at their side.

"Lady Palutena?! What are you doing here!? S-Shouldn't you be inside the temple?" a Centurion Knight asked, flying in front of her and using his shield to protect her from a little Reapette. "Listen to me Centurions!" all around Angel Land every member of her army listened closely to Lady Palutena's orders. "Leave the Reapettes to me. The rest of you go and make sure every Angel that was in Angel Land when this attack first started is safe and out of harm's way! Do you understand me?"

A handful of Centurions had their reservations about leaving Lady Palutena alone to fight those monsters that had already taken down a quarter of their army, but a Centurion always followed orders. No matter how absurd they were. "Yes Lady Palutena!" the Centurions near her saluted and took off flying where the Angels that visited usually flocked. Palutena could also see and feel the other Centurions follow their lead.

Thankfully for Palutena, and me, the Reapettes weren't too focused on...anything really. Reapettes usually attacked the first moving thing they saw and since everyone in Angel Land was flying around in a panic the Reapettes did too. Which didn't really actually help Palutena in getting rid of them.

To put things into perspective, imagine trying to swat a hundred tiny flies buzzing around you with a magical flyswatter that shoot lasers. Sounds easy to say but in practice its much harder than you can imagine.

"Autoreticle!" her staff shoot out several blasts of light that homed in on where a Reapette had been, but they were just too fast for the Autoreticle. "Looks like I don't have a choice." it was now or never, and never had stopped being an option the moment the Reapettes dared to enter her home and try to hurt her beloved subjects.

With no hesitation Palutena grabbed onto her staff and floated up as high as she could until she could see all of Angel Land below her. "I haven't done this in a while..." she looked down at her hands and then back at her temple where she could only hope the Angels and Pit were safe, "But for them, I have to try!"

Palutena held her staff high above her head. Her halo glowed brighter than it had in years, and for a second or two she felt powerful enough to defeat whatever 'God' was going around and destroying Human villages. But that would have to wait another day. Because today it was time to save Angel Land.

Palutena's show-offy nature was on full display as she, with a twirl and a flip of her staff aimed downward and cast her most powerful attack.

**"GODDESS LIGHT BLAST!"**

She paused and so did the light.

**"...THE NAMES A WORK IN PROGRESS! SHUT UP AND GET OUT!" **

A blast of bright light illuminated across Angel Land. The powerful attack was designed to only hurt those who Palutena wanted gone, so luckily the Centurions and some stray Angels were perfectly safe. The Reapettes on the other hand had no idea what hit them. Palutena's light was as fast as the speed of, well, light that by the time any of the hundreds of Reapettes knew what was happening, it was too late. Palutena kept up her attack until she was sure Angel Land's Reapette problem was over and done with.

When Palutena felt that it was over the blast of light faded away as quickly as it had appeared. It had wiped out every enemy in her path. Palutena, along with her staff gently floated back down. She silently congratulated herself on a job well done and hoped that someone out there had seen just how cool she looked. _'I bet I looked really cool!'_ she beamed.

However, her celebration ended abruptly, before she even touched the ground. Palutena felt something was wrong. Like something was heading right for her. And it wasn't friendly. Palutena barely had any time to turn around and react before a familiar voice yelled out her name.

"Great Palutena!"

Next thing she knew, Pit was lying motionless on the ground with a Reapette heading right for him.

If you asked Palutena years after what happened in this exact moment, she couldn't tell you even if she wanted to. And on the off chance she did decided to tell you, she would make you swear to never tell anyone else about it. Because it was not her proudest moment.

"Tradeoff!" a powerful blast of light tore through the Reapette. If Medusa had been there even she would have thought it to be overkill. The attack was so powerful that the tradeoff to shoot off an attack that powerful caused Palutena to collapse onto her knees. She clung onto her staff for support and reached out a weak hand towards Pit.

"Pit?" it was her nightmare come true. Had that dream been prophetic? Was that a Goddess thing? Was that just something that she could do? Did the world always spin this much?

yes.

"Pit...Pit...Please wake up."

Almost at her command Pit finally stirred and slowly rose to his feet. "Woooaahh what happened?" the last thing he could remember was a loud noise and hiding somewhere because he was scared. Then there was a bright light and then Great Palutena was...

"Great Palutena!" everything hit Pit at once. Medusa leaving, then the monsters, and the darkness of the small cupboard he choose to hide in. Even worse, he remembered that Great Palutena was in danger and she didn't even know it! "Great Palutena watch out! Great Palutena?!" Pit turned and yelled in all sorts of directions, until he finally turned around and saw her. "Oh!" she didn't look hurt only really tired like how she usually looked like in the morning.

"Pit...Pit. Why did you do that...?"

"What did I do?" Pit unconsciously brushed his hand against his face and immediately regretted it. As soon as he did there was a painful stinging sensation and he cried out in pain. "Pit. You're hurt...!" Palutena forced herself up and walked up to him, she bent down and inspected his face closely. He had a large cut across his left check.

"All because you wanted to protect me." Pit getting hurt was bad enough but Pit getting hurt because of her? That was something Palutena never thought she would have deal with.

"I'm okay Great Palutena! Its just a little scratch!" he brought up his hand to touch his injury again to show her it was nothing to worry about. Only for it to completely backfire when he hissed in pain at the touch.

Palutena's hands shook as she tried her best to think straight. Why didn't she tell her Centurions to stop flying towards Skyworld? Why didn't she get rid of the Reapettes sooner? Why didn't she call for Medusa's help when she had the chance? Why did she go down to the Overworld in the first place? Why...Why...

**"Why did you do that?!" **

Pit flinched and stepped back. Great Palutena had never raised her voice at him like that, not even when he threw temper tantrums or when he brought a weapon into the throne room. Her voice was always motherly and stern when he needed discipline. It was never...whatever this was.

"Why would you do something so stupid Pit! What were you thinking? Jumping in front of a Reapette like that?! Were you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"G-Great Palutena I..."

"You weren't thinking at all were you?! Don't you know Angels aren't meant to fight or defend **or any of that nonsense!"** the one-sided argument between the small Angel and the Goddess of Light had attracted its few share of concerned onlookers, many of who were almost just as scared as Pit was.

"Great Palutena I'm sorry!" Pit screamed out. He would do or say whatever it would take to get Palutena to forgive him, even if he didn't know what he did wrong. He was desperate, fearing Palutena was something had never felt before and he very quickly decided that he hated it.

"Now you're sorry! Is that it?! It's just this sort of reckless behavior that got your parents-"

Palutena chocked on her own words before she could finish. The crowd gathered around the two held their breaths to see if either of them would speak up again. To their shock, Palutena simply turned around and silently walked away.

And when they looked back at Pit, he was long gone.

* * *

**-Enjoy these OCs you will never see them again.-**

Hours after the attack, Angel Land was slowly but surely falling back into its usual groove.

The Centurions divided themselves between repairing the damage the Reapettes had caused to the main temple, while the other less interior design savvy Centurions set off to help any Angels that may had been injured in the attack. Thankfully, almost every Angel had been quick enough to fly away to safety at the first sign of danger. So instead the Centurions found themselves busy passing on the message that Angel Land was safe to return to.

Palutena herself had retired to her room for the day. _"I need some time alone. If it's important just...knock twice."_ Those were her orders and no one questioned them.

And Pit? Pit was left to wander Angel Land alone for the first time in his life.

But only the parts of Angel Land he could reach himself. From where he was left by Palutena there were only two places he could walk to; the Library or the Garden. He choose the latter. A pretty garden would be a much better place to be than a boring old building filled with paper.

After a short walk, Pit found himself nervously standing in front of the Garden. Ever since he could remember either Palutena or Medusa had been by his side, watching over him. But now he was by himself and that meant that anything could happen. The building was made of glass which let Pit see inside of the greenhouse even from the outside. The doors were open, and the familiarity of the garden was warm and inviting. Pit slowly walked in, avoiding steeping on any flowers as he walked towards the familiar patch of flowers he liked to pick.

As long as Pit had something to distract him from the events of earlier that was good enough for him.

...Maybe he _should _have gone to the library? At least there he would get so bored he would probably fall asleep and think this whole day was just one big bad nightmare. He sighed, it was too late now. Today was probably the last time he would be allowed outside. So it would be better to spend it somewhere he actually liked. Despite the odds, Pit still hoped there was a chance that Palutena would forgive him for his stupid mistake, but he didn't count on it. What he did was stupid. He was so stupid.

_"-and what do you think you're doing?"_

Pit froze. The voice that had spoken to him wasn't one he recognized. That meant it was someone new. Someone he didn't know. Someone that sounded very angry at them.

He started turned around as slowly as he possibly could, scared out of his mind at who or what could possibly be behind him.

To his relief it wasn't a monster of any kind. It was a regular Angel flying right above him.

The Angel was taller than Pit, but not by a lot (they were a little on the short side). They wore a tunic similar to his but much bigger, tied to them by a large brown belt with a red jewel on the side. Their dark hair was tied back in a ponytail that made it look like a puff of smoke was coming out of their head, their sidebangs hanging from their head held a small yellow halo. And behind them was a large pair of white wings. They were also, strangely enough, smiling right at him.

Before the new Angel could speak again, another unfamiliar voice spoke up. "Ah! Is this the Angel everyone is talking about?" flying besides the first Angel was another much taller angel. His tunic was split down the middle and complete with a side belt that held a pair of weird containers. His hair was blond and tied up in a side ponytail and on top of his head was a pair of small wings, just like a Centurion's. His appearance came second to Pit however, because in his hand he held the clear remains of what used to be a wrapper around a delicious cupcake.

Pit's stomach let out a low growl. Because of the incident he hadn't gotten to eat breakfast let alone lunch.

The shorter of the pair of Angels let out a snort and made a mental note to take Pit to the kitchen after escorting him out of the garden, "It sounds like someones hungry. Don't tell me you wandered in here to eat the flowers?" Pit blushed and looked down to the flowers he had been picking just before he was caught. "No!..I'm sorry." he said apologizing for ruining the garden, but he also apologized for being hungry and being stupid enough to try and protect Palutena. He tugged and twisted at his dirty tunic, still looking away so the grown-up Angels wouldn't see him about to cry.

Just as Pit was to take off running to who knows where, he felt a foreign touch on the top of his head. He slowly looked up to see that the much taller Angel was flying just above him, with his hand placed right on Pit's head. "You don't need to be sorry! Just between you and me, Greta here is a big meanie when it comes to their garden." he winked and ruffled Pit's hair.

"H-Hold it! I'm not a '**MEANIE'**, I'm protective!" the shorter angel answered back, flapping their wings at the other Angel's accusation. "Besides, I'm not the one who almost kicked Lady Palutena out of his kitchen when she interrupted your important prep meal time!"

"See what I mean? Total meanie."

"Ha ha! You threw a ladle at her!"

"I-!? I guess I did..."

Pit didn't know what exactly the Angels were arguing about, but he'd heard enough fighting for one day. He didn't want to hear any more.

He quickly stepped away from the much taller Angel, sat down on the grass, closed his eyes, and covered his ears to not hear any more of their arguing. There was no way the two Angels weren't going to notice this. The two exchanged a look of worry, then they nodded and gently landed on the two opposite sides of Pit. He was too busy trying to tune out the world to care.

"Sorry about that. We should have known that you've been through a lot today, huh?" Pit didn't answer the much taller Angel's question, "Just so you know-! Greta and me weren't fighting! Not at all! We love each other, like a lot!" Pit let his guard down for a second. "You weren't fighting because of me?" he asked so quietly that both Angels had mistaken his voice for the sound of wind at first. "No of course not! We were just-" before the much taller Angel could answer his question, Pit burst out sobbing.

"B-Because I broke a rule! Just like with Great Palutena! Now she's mad at me and you're mad at me too!" Pit continued crying loudly into his hands as both Angels looked at each other in panicked confusion.

"Soore. You made it worse." the short Angel whispered as quietly as they could over Pit's loud cries.

"I'm sorry! Why don't you give it a try? You were always really good with the other kids."

So then then the shorter Angel gave it a try. "I uh-We saw what happened. I think it was pretty brave, what you did for Lady Palutena." Pit's crying had quieted down, but not because he felt any better. He was getting tired. "I know you think Lady Palutena is mad at you but trust me, she's not. What she said to you wasn't uh-right? But I'm sure once she calms down after everything, she'll apologize for making you feel like you did something _really_ wrong."

They softly put their hand on Pit's uninjured cheek to wipe away his tears, to their surprise he leaned into their hand. "I-?! Um-I know she loves you. She shouldn't have yelled at you like that, but trust me when I say that she does love you. People just make _big_ mistakes sometimes! Even Lady Palutena! Heck, even me!"

"Do you...really think so?" Pit had begun to quiet down. he leaned even more into the shorter Angel's hand, or arms, now as it was. "I know so! You're talking to the smartest Angel in Angel Land! Trust me when I say that Lady Palutena is going to apologize to you and be a least a _little_ proud. Not every Angel would risk their life like that, even for Lady Palutena."

"Hey-! Don't sell us short!" the much taller Angel said, finally speaking up from watching his partner expertly figure out their right words, completely lovestruck the whole time.

"Oh what? You think the Forces of the Underworld are going to be quaking in their boots because of Angel Land's flower expert and assistant cook?"

"Maybe!"

"Now this little guy-" Pit had gone from leaning on them to resting his head on their lap, "He's absolutely terrifyiiing! An absolute terrorrr!" Pit giggled from the small bop to his nose the shorter Angel gave him. It was the first time he'd laughed since both Angels had flown in and they were both delighted.

"I bet those Reapers will be telling the legend of the legendary Angel for years to come."

"You think so...?"

The much taller Angel did a quick double take. He'd been sure Pit had fallen fast asleep by now, but lo and behold he was still awake and responsive. Regardless, he was able to compose himself to answer him. He scooted himself closer to the shorter Angel so they were sitting side by side, "Oh, maybe? But let's keep the heroics until after you're a little bigger. That'll save all of us a lot of heartache."

"Soores right. You're still small so Lady Palutena has to take care of you! But if you ask me, you've already got all the makings of a hero! Brave, adorable, nice. Not to mention, a pair of wonderful white wings!" the much smaller Angel gently brushed Pit's small wings. They were much smaller than any other Angel children's wings they had seen, but they were beautiful nonetheless.

"Mm-hmmm..." before Pit fell asleep, he managed to ask one last question, "Can you give me my favorite flowers...? Great Palutena would love those..."

Pit pointed to a patch of flowers just a few feet away from them, then his arm fell back down onto his side. The shorter Angel knew exactly what patch of flowers held what kind of flowers. They frowned remembering what was planted where Pit had pointed at.

"_Those _are you _favorites_? Oh no, Pit these are yellow Carnations those aren't good at all."

"What's wrong with them?" asked the much taller Angel, genuinely curious as to what they could mean. "Yellow carnations mean rejection or contempt." they answered. The pair looked down sadly at Pit, who was still sound asleep. They both agreed that the meaning of the flower didn't suit him at all. "Soore? Would you do me a favor and fly over there and pick me some of those flowers?"

"On it!" the flowers he was led to were pure white with a yellow center. While the much taller Angel had learned plenty about flowers from his partner there was still a lot he had to learn. It was complicated and really messy (especially when the shorter Angel tried to cook) but it was worth it. He grabbed a single flower and quickly flew back, making sure he made as little noise as possible.

"I know I can always count on you!" they took the flower from his hand and the much taller Angel blushed a deep red.

"Here Pit." The shorter Angel held out a pure white flower, "I think this flower suits you better." Pit was deep in a dream by now and was happily sleeping away on their lap. He scooted closer into their arms to the point where the shorter Angel felt they were going to be sitting there for a very long time. Not that they minded.

"What does this flower mean?"

"Its a Daisy." they took the white daisy and gently placed it on Pit's hair, "It means innocence and purity. Its a much better fit don't you think?"

* * *

**-I'd fly backwards if I could!-**

It was late evening when Pit woke up in his own bed inside the temple.

He rubbed his eyes awake and tried to remember when exactly he had gotten back to his room. The last thing he could remember was being in the garden, then he remembered picking flowers and then...

"Oh yeah!" there were two Angels with him, he couldn't remember their names, but he did remember they called themselves a gardener and a cook. That must have been them! He had met the Angels that took care of Angel Land's garden and cooked their food, and he didn't even thank them for all their hard work! Pit pouted, Great Palutena would be ashamed of his rudeness.

"Great Palutena...!" that's when Pit remembered the other not-so-nice missing pieces of his lost memory.

How just as he was about to eat lunch a loud alarm rang through the temple. The sudden noise had scared him so much that he ran and hid in the most hidden-est place he could find. Which just so happened to be a small cabinet in the kitchen, just his size.

Pit nervously pulled on the hair that threatened to cover one of his eyes. That last-minute decision just might have just cost him any chance of Great Palutena ever liking him ever again.

He pulled a loose hair out. Maybe it would just be better for both of them if he stayed up locked up in his room forever. "Maybe Great Palutena will like me if I just stay out of her way." he laid down on his bed and closed his eyes, desperately wishing everything that happened today was really a bad dream.

_'Trust me when I say that Lady Palutena is going to apologize to you and be a least a **little **proud.'_

Pit's eyes snapped open, the words of the shorter Angel rang though his head. If they believed Great Palutena would forgive him, then maybe there was a chance she really would. It wasn't much to go on but if there was anything Pit was other than obedient, it was hopelessly optimistic. If there was even a sliver of a chance something would work out in his favor, he would take it. He was a lot like Palutena in that regard. For better or for worse. "Right!" Pit jumped off his bed and grabbed his Palutena doll, "I'm gonna go and fix everything!"

He didn't even make it out the door when he was stopped by Palutena herself.

"**Ohmygosh**!" he exclaimed, falling and rolling over backwards. Pit had thought about the possibility of Palutena ignoring him, but he never imagined she would come straight to him. "Great Palutena I..." suddenly all the hope he had for making things right disappeared. Palutena was standing right in front of him but he couldn't think of anything to say. There was a million thoughts running through his head but he couldn't figure out how to say them. Nothing was coming out.

Palutena, found herself in the same position. She hated that she couldn't look Pit in the eye.

They both stood in tense silence for a good while until Palutena heard a quiet, "I'm sorry." Pit stared down at the floor, he just couldn't bear to see the look of disappointment on her face. Every time Pit remembered her expression just before she'd stormed off he wanted to curl up into a ball and go to sleep for the rest of his life. He tugged at his tunic hard enough to knot it up and wondered if Great Palutena had heard his apology. Even if she hadn't, what difference would it make? He sighed, his chest really hurt.

"Great Palutena I'm-"

Then suddenly Palutena swooped him off his feet into a tight hug. Pit gasped in surprise but in the end, he hugged her back gripping onto her dress as tight as his hands could. Palutena held him as close as she could and cried. All the sadness and grief she had been holding in since the start of her nightmare streamed down her face. She found herself unable to speak beyond strained sobs, there was so much she wanted to tell Pit but she couldn't. _She couldn't..._

Her knees shock and gave out. With Pit still tight in her grip, she gently fell onto her knees to the floor. "Great Palutena please don't cry." Pit whispered. Palutena heard him loud and clear but still didn't loosen her hold on him. "Great Palutena. I'm so sorry for what I did, please stop crying I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." at the end of his apology Pit's voice started to waver and he pushed his face against Palutena's shoulder, still unable to face her. Palutena could tell Pit was crying now too.

"P-Pit no..." Palutena struggled to say. She brought her hand up and gently patted him on his back, being careful to not touch his wings. "You have nothing to apologize for. I was stressed, upset, frustrated...and I took it all out on you. I'm so sorry Pit. I was wrong. I was so wrong. Could you ever forgive me?"

"Great Palutena..." Pit pulled away from Palutena's hold and looked down, his hands still gripping at his tunic. Then his shaking hands were grabbed by a pair of another's. Palutena held his hands away from his tunic and brought them up to her. Both Goddess and Angel finally faced each other. Unlike what Pit had feared more than death itself Palutena wasnt mad or disappointed. She was smiling, with tears in her eyes.

"Pit, I'm sorry." she said with a warm smile. "I'm sorry." one apology wasn't ever going to be enough for her, she needed to let Pit know just how remorseful she was. She needed him to know that she was wrong, that what he had done and what had happened was not his fault. He'd done nothing wrong.

"Pit, you're the absolute best Angel anybody could ever ask for. You're brave, selfless, smart and kind." she lightly bopped at his nose, Pit sneezed at her touch.

Palutena happily hummed, "Not to mention adorable!"

"Huh...?" Pit was still very young so most of what Palutena said about him flew over his head, "Great Palutena are you saying you're not mad at me anymore?"

At his question Palutena couldn't help but burst out laughing. She laughed so hard she fell over backwards right onto pits floor. "G-Great Palutena?!" laughing was something good but falling was bad! Pit must have done something wrong again, he feared for the worst. With a long wheeze Palutena sat up again and took hold of Pit's hands again.

"No Pit! I'm not mad!" she let go of his hands and ruffled his messy hair until it was covering both of his eyes, "I couldn't be prouder of you Pit."

"Oooooh!" Pit began to hop in place. His wings flapped rapidly, and he found himself too excited to stay still. "Great Palutenas proud of me! Great Palutenas proud of me!" He moved his excitement over to his bed and jumped up and down in joy.

"OH-kay Pit-" Palutena safely caught him in midair and brought him back down onto solid ground. "Let's keep the celebration down here?" excited or not, Palutena still had to take into account that Pit still couldn't fly. "Okay Great Palutena! Oh-!" Pit's attention turned to the Palutena and Medusa dolls on the ground. "Do you wanna play with me?! Do you? Do you? Do you?" he held both dolls in his hands and danced around the room.

Palutena rested her cheek on her hand, it looked like Pit had all but forgiven her for now but she sure hadn't forgiven herself. Her outburst that afternoon was still fresh on her mind. She could remember exactly what she said, and she could still remember Pit's terrified expression. In that moment Pit was scared of her.

That was it then!

She, at that very moment, on that very night, swore once again to no one but herself that she would be the best parents he'd ever had! With the occasional help from Medusa of course. No one and nothing would ever come to harm Pit. That included her. She would make sure to always listen to him and to always come to his aid whenever he needed it. And as Pit grew up no matter what happened she would always be there for him. Yeah, that sounded fun.

"Great Palutena? Aren't we gonna Plaaaaay?" he whined, getting tired of waiting for Palutena to start playing with him.

"I love you." she smiled.

"Oh. Love you too!"

Pit sat down next to Palutena and began to play out another attack on Angel Land (Pit's idea). This time Palutena and Medusa were accompanied by a brave hero named Pit, who was really big and tough and also had a cool tattoo because he was just that tough AND cool. Palutena had her reservations on playing along with this scenario but ultimately deemed it harmless.

"Playing pretend is fine but just promise me you won't jump straight into danger like that anytime soon? Leave everything to me and Medusa for now!"

"I promise Great Palutena! I'm not ever gonna fight ever again!"

Just like that the Goddess and the Angel made up.

Angst was never quite their style anyway.

* * *

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**-theme of a tragedic revenge-**

**"Oh, Great Goddess of Light please spare us!"**

Palutena was jolted awake by another desperate prayer. Only this time, something was different. There were more cries for help than there usually were whenever a Human village was attacked. That could only mean that...

"There's still time!"

She jumped up from her bed, not even bothering to change out of her nightgown or slip on her slippers. She materialized her staff and ran out the doors. Once outside, she took a sharp turn to the right and towards Medusa's room. Palutena desperately knocked on the doors of the room. "Medusa! Please wake up! Please!" she tried to forcibly push the doors open, but they were tightly locked. That was a telltale sign that Medusa wasn't home.

"Augh! There's no time for this!" Palutena turned on her heels, giving up on Medusa's help and forgetting she could warp. She knew she was strong enough to handle this situation on her own. Palutena was sure Medusa would understand, Human lives were at stake here after all! Sure, she would get an earful from Medusa once she found out what she'd done without her but after Palutena explained the situation to her they were sure to hug it out!

Palutena smiled, for once confident. She was going to make it. She was going to save them all!

Palutena finally reached the doors to the throne room and forcibly pushed them open. She wasted no time in running to the Seeing Fountain and immediately homing in on the Humans who were still calling out for her.

And only her.

What awaited her was something out of one of her worst nightmares.

The city was up in flames, its Humans were running around in a panic and some were standing perfectly still. They stood as still as stone statues, silently screaming in fear of an unknown enemy. Palutena was too late. Even now when she had the advantage. She held on to the fountain with a deathly grip. This was supposed to be her moment, she was supposed to save everyone!

She wiped the tears from her eyes. She couldn't give up, not now. She could still save any Humans who were still alive, and if she was lucky maybe the monster who did this was still in the area. Then she could finally put a stop to all the suffering. The Humans, Medusa's, and hers.

Palutena put all of her concentration into sensing anything out of the ordinary in the Burning Town. Aside from a few eager Reapers there wasn't anything that felt powerful enough to cause this level of destruction. The unlucky Goddess was about to throw in the towel when she felt a spike of power coming from the center of the town, next to it Palutena heard a Human prayer that was quickly silenced.

The power felt familiar.

She clumsily tried to center the Seeing Fountain to look at the middle of town. Her heart was racing, and her hands were shaking. Despite wanting to desperately solve and stop the mystery of who had been doing this to the Humans, she was terrified of finding out who it really was. _'Don't be silly Palutena. It's probably just another strong Underworld enemy'_ she reassured herself. After a deep breath Palutena steadied her hands enough to finally center the Seeing Fountain enough to see through it clearly.

Then she fell back. Her eyes were full of tears and million thoughts ran through her head at once. She had to be dreaming right? This was all a bad dream, just like before. But as much as Palutena tried to wake up there was no denying that what she saw was the truth. A truth she wanted to hopelessly believe was an illusion created by something-**anything!**

Because there, in the middle of the city, covered in the blood of countless Humans was someone who pledged alongside her to always protect Humanity no matter what. Someone who ruled alongside her, someone who had been by her side through even the hardest times, someone she could always count on...

Her most trusted and loyal friend. Her best friend.

"Medusa?"

* * *

hey.

so!

this was definitely the most stressful chapter i have written...writing with like no lore is very hard...also sorry for two very long chapters in a row but NEXT chapter is only half the length of this one! so uh yeah...

anyway you ever think about how a bunch of humans die in kid icarus uprising and also the original kid icarus and its not ever THAT much of a really big deal? the chaos kin and pit really did kill humans for 3 straight years. that...wild, isnt it?

speaking of, i hope you liked the past! its not the last time i ll write it! wonder what happens after medusa gets confronted huh? huh?

oh! and thank you for reading haha!


	8. Idols are obtained

**In which Idols are Obtained and time is wasted**

* * *

**-welcome back to the present, enjoy you brief stay.-**

Dark Pit, once again, found himself roaming the empty halls of Palutena's temple. It was a familiar scene to him by now. Though, there was something different about this particular visit.

This time, he knew exactly where he was going.

His many last visits to the temple had him wandering lost for hours all just to find Pit. For the simple reason to ask him if he wanted to do something fun together. Now that he knew what room Pit was in, the time he spent aimlessly wandering around was cut by more than half.

And it was all thanks to Palutena.

It was no secret to her, or to him, that he was still a little apprehensive about talking or even being near her. But Dark Pit had to admit, that she really did seem to be making an effort to _'understand'_ him. ("Whatever that means?")

She talked to him more, asked him how his day had been and even asked how he was feeling that day. Dark Pit couldn't help thinking it was just a little tiny bit annoying to have Palutena care so much about him, but at the same time...it was kinda nice knowing that she cared so much about how he was doing.

B-But it was way more annoying than nice that was for sure!

Dark Pit stopped in the middle of one of Skyworld's long hallways to cover his face. He knew that Palutena likely still had her eyes on him, and he couldn't help but blush remembering the embrace that Palutena had given him earlier that morning.

**And that wasnt even the worse of it!** The worst part was that Dark Pit had immediately hugged her back!

After realizing the totally embarrassing thing he just did, he jumped back and tried to brush it off as unintentional reaction on the part of being part of Pit. Which was a blatant lie.

Of course, Palutena saw right through his lie, and why wouldn't she? To save Dark Pit from any further turmoil she choose to humor him and went along with his lie. "Sure, Pittoo" she laughed, "Whatever you say." This only caused Dark Pit's face to grow even more red with embarrassment until, finally, after seconds of trying to come up with another cooler lie to brush off his show of affection-Dark Pit ran out of the room without asking where Pit was.

After realizing this he ran back in and asked.

"Oh, Pit? I think I saw him heading to his room earlier...With a surprisingly serious look on his face" Palutena looked into the distance and began thinking of what could be behind Pit's serious demeanor, which gave Dark Pit the perfect chance to escape.

Thankfully, of the few places in Skyworld Dark Pit did know, Pit's room was one he knew very well. _'I guess something good had to come out of being dragged there every stupid time I set foot in this place.'_ Dark Pit practically had every route to Pit's room memorized. From the left hallway, to the right, and even from the roof.

It didn't take very long before he finally arrived at the door to Pit's room. Dark Pit took in a deep breath before knocking. Before he could however, his thoughts strayed to Palutena again.

"...Maybe I should have asked her how her day was?"

* * *

**-i couldnt think of a transition, or a title, so you get this-**

After knocking for well over six minutes Dark Pit's already thin patience had thinned out enough to the point where it was nothing but a fine line. "Pitstain! Open up, I'm here!"

Then before he could knock again, the door to Pit's room slowly creaked open. With a loud and ominous '_creeeeaaaaak_.' It was almost enough to send Dark Pit running back to his own room back in Viridi's temple, but he'd never hear the end of it from anyone if he did that.

Shaking off his self-thought stupid concerns Dark Pit took a quick peek inside. The entire room was almost pitch black, which was already concerning since he knew for a fact Pit hated the dark.

"Pit?" there was a rare genuine worry in Dark Pit's voice as he carefully took a single step into the seemingly empty room.

Something in the back of his mind was even considering calling Palutena for backup, but he quickly shoved that thought aside and convinced himself that he could handle whatever was going on by himself. Whatever it was.

Dark Pit's answer to the question of what was going on would come shortly after his first slow step- When he suddenly felt his arm being grabbed, "Wha-?!" and before he could do anything about it he was pulled into the darkness of Pit's room.

"Hey-! Let go!" Dark Pit tried to fight back against his mysterious attacker, but oddly enough his first instinct wasn't to fight back or anything normal like that. Instead the first thing he thought of doing was-

"Palutena! Do something for me for once and light up the room!"

"N-No! Lady Palutena, please don't do that!" Dark Pit easily recognized the voice that had cried out, despite it being covered in layers of panic and regret. It was clear to him that his_ 'mysterious attacker'_ was none other than his twin. This only raised more questions than answers at this point.

It didn't take more than a few seconds after Dark Pit's cry for help that Pit's room was awash in a warm light that quickly drove out the darkness. In other words, Palutena used her **Power of Opening Curtains~** to bring some much needed light into the room. With a job well done she left her twins on their own, positive that they wouldn't get in too much trouble if they just stayed in Pit's room.

_'...Right?' _

Maybe she should keep half-an-eye on them. Just in case.

* * *

**-gacha gacha gacha-**

"You have ten seconds to explain yourself."

Pit backed away from Pittoo as much as he could until he hit the metaphorical and physical wall of his room. In an effort to save himself he jumped onto his trusty hammock and hid himself as much as he could under the messy blankets. "I...Well, you see..." There actually was a very good explanation for his actions, but he wasn't sure if Pittoo would be satisfied with it. Even worse, it could make him madder.

"Seven seconds." Dark Pit said reminding Pit of the few seconds that remained of his life. Thankfully for the both of them, the odds that Dark Pit would really kill his twin if he didn't offer a good enough explanation were very low. Maybe.

"R-Right! Um-well...where do I start?"

"How about you start with the arm grabbing!" Dark Pit said raising both his voice and his fist.

Pit instinctively fully covered himself with a blanket to protect himself, but it didn't take long for him to realize that he was in no real danger. Its not like Pittoo would _actually_ punch him. M..Maybe...

If anything, Pittoo would kick him.

"Pit!"

"Oh! Right! Sorry! I had a surprise for you!"

Dark Pit tilted his head in confusion and took a quick look around Pit's room. Everything seemed to be in place and there was nothing in his brother's room that really screamed _'Surprise'_ to him. Unless Pit was going to generously gift him something that was already in his room. In which case Dark Pit would stubbornly refuse anything that Pit would try to pawn off on him. "Whatever you're giving me I don't want it." unless it was a bean bag chair.

"No! Nothing like that! Come on! This way!" in another one of Pit's absentminded decisions, he jumped out of his hammock and grabbed Pittoo's arm again, dragging him to a corner of the room. This time since Dark Pit knew who was dragging him, he didn't fight back. That didn't mean he wasn't any less annoyed by it though. "Pitstain you have to stop doing this." he whispered to himself.

Pit let go of his twin's arm and stood by a mysterious blanketed lump. He grinned from ear to ear and bounced in excitement because Pittoo was finally here and they were gonna have so much fun!

Before Pit could open his mouth to explain the mysteriously covered surprise, Dark Pit beat him to the punch. "If you think I'm gonna guess what's under there you're wrong." Pit's grin slowly faded, "I wasn't gonna make you guess..." he grumbled to himself, as he removed the blanket without any of the fanfare he'd hoped for.

Yet, despite Dark Pit ruining the surprise Pit had planned out all week he couldn't resist striking a dramatic pose when the surprise was finally revealed. "Ta-dah!" under the blanket was a very-much popular toy that was used by children through all of the divine realms. There wasn't anything fancy about the toy, it was a simple plate with a fountain of water underneath to help said plate bounce. The real allure to the toy came with the accessories. Which Pit had plenty of.

"Your surprise for me...was Idol Toss."

Pit nodded, "Yup!"

Dark Pit had to admit, it wasn't the worst surprise in the world, but it was hard to come up with anything to say that wasn't some sort of variation of '_Idol toss isn't super-secret surprise worthy._' And though Dark Pit was never one to not speak his mind about something, even he had to admit saying anything like that would have felt a little too much. Even for him.

Especially with the poorly placed and clearly handmade spotlight hanging only by a thread above the idol toss. That was evidence enough that Pit had been planning this '_surprise'_ for quite some time. Had it been just for him? Of course it had to be, who else would hang out with Pit enough to play something like this with him? Certainly not a Centurion and definitely not Palutena.

Dark Pit rapidly glanced at the idol toss then back at Pit, who was clearly waiting on his response. That's when Dark Pit's saving grace came in the form of remembering an important rumor he had heard recently.

"Weren't you banned from playing these kinds of games?"

"J-Just the ones that involve, you know, actual money!" Pit quickly spat out, confirming Viridi's gossip she'd heard from Poseidon. To be fair, Palutena establishing a no gambling rule hadn't been Pit's fault, not entirely. Pit had really wanted a New Year's alt. and Lady Palutena had made it very clear that he could use her credit card in the case of an emergency. And honestly, what was more of an emergency than Pit not owning New Year Mario?

"But never mind all that! Idol toss is different! See?" Pit held up a blue egg at a very skeptical Pittoo who couldn't wait to see Pit justify his growing gambling addiction, "Every time I go out and train Lady Palutena gives me an egg I can use on the Idol Toss!"

"So she's the enabler huh?"

"The what-? No, she's Lady Palutena!" Pit laughed off Pittoo's silly mistake and continued, "Anyway, I've been saving a bunch for a rainy day and I figured, what the heck-maybe Pittoo wants to play too!"

Before Pittoo could say anything along the lines of _'Don't just assume what I want to do_' Pit spun around and revealed another blanketed cover object. This time there was no hesitation in pulling off the cover.

Underneath the second blanket was a pile of assorted colored eggs. Pittoo couldn't tell how many there were but there was at least way more than five. He guessed that the total was probably somewhere between six and one-thousand nine hundred and ninety-one. As Pit began pulling the basket of eggs into the center of his room, Dark Pit wondered just how long Pit had been hoarding the idol eggs. And even more importantly-where had he been storing them?! Poor Dark Pit would never get an answer to these questions and neither would you.

"What do you say?" this time Pit held out a plain white egg to his brother. Pit had all day and then some to wait for Pittoo's answer, so he didn't mind waiting a bit for his answer. Which Pit was sure was going be a resounding '**yes**.' No one could resist the allure of idol toss, no matter how hard they tried.

Pittoo stared the egg down, almost like it was its fault that he was actually considering taking Pit up on his offer. Surely flinging a few eggs up into the air for a couple of idols wouldn't hurt, and its wasn't like they had anything better to do anyway.

"Fine." Dark Pit answered, "But-! I'm only gonna watch! I don't need any idols in my room. They'd just take up space."

Pit jumped up in the air and cheered, "Yes! Oh man Pittoo we're gonna have so much fun!"

Dark Pit would have put a stop to Pit's obnoxious cheering himself if Pit hadn't done it first by panicking over almost dropping one of his precious and irreplaceable idol eggs. "Oooh-kay let me just drag the idol toss next to the eggs and we can start!"

With a skip in his step Pit walked over to the idol toss and began the arduous task of carefully dragging it to where he had dragged his basket of eggs earlier.

Dark Pit would have offered to help but it looked like Pit had the situation handled already.

"...Its not even raining." Dark Pit grumbled to himself.

* * *

**-can i offer you an egg in this trying time?-**

"Cross your fingers Pittoo!" Pit asked, crossing his fingers on both of his hands. Just in case he also crossed his arms.

This made pushing down the idol plate very hard, but not impossible. "I...almost...got it...!" Pit used his elbow to gently push the plate down as far as he could.

Instead of heading his brother's wishes, or helping launch the egg, Pittoo rolled his eyes and watched with his fingers uncrossed as the idol egg was launched up to the ceiling. A bright light flashed through the room and Dark Pit had to look away. On the other side of the coin, Pit looked straight at it, smiling and wondering what idol would come out next.

The light quickly faded away and a Monoeye idol gently floated down onto Pit's hands.

"Aw man!" Pit effortlessly threw the idol over his shoulder onto a pile of idols that had built up in the corner.

Dark Pit blinked in surprise (and to adjust to the rooms normal lighting after almost being temporarily blinded.) How had he not noticed the pile when he came in? It was huge! Clearly Pit had been at this for longer than he'd thought. Dark Pit quickly looked back and forth at the pile of idol eggs and idols, was this be something he should be worried about?

"I have like nine Monoeyes already! I don't need one more!" Pit crossed his arms and looked over to his other pile of idol eggs, "I guess that's what I get for using a regular ol' egg..."

Dark Pit offered his brother a gentle pat on the back, "There...there?" Pit cheered up quickly, some part in thanks to his twin's heartfelt effort in consoling him over his bad roll. "You're right Pittoo! That was only egg out of who knows how many! We still have a ton of chances for something cool!"

Dark Pit glanced back at the massive pile of idol eggs that Pit had reportedly been saving up for years. Probably since before they had ever even meet. With all those tries Pit had a good point, there was a big chance one of those would have something super rare in them.

With that in mind, "Great. Now you're infecting me." Dark Pit leaned back on the bean bag chair he had chosen for the day to watch Pit do his thing. His gambling thing.

Pit smiled back at him, not quite sure what Pittoo meant by _'infecting'_ but he was glad he was having fun. At least. it looked like he was having fun watching the idol jump out of the idol toss.

"Ah! That reminds me!" Pit, in what best could be described as _'_fumbled_'_, over to the idol toss.

"My idol toss is special! Its got something no other idol toss has! At least that's what Lady Palutena told me." Pit looked over at his brother who didn't look like he was going to ask Pit to clarify more on what he meant by _'special'_ like Pit had hoped he would. Instead, Dark Pit looked like he was just waiting for Pit to finish explaining whatever was so special about his precious idol toss. Which was fine too, but Pit hoped he would ask so they could talk more.

Oh, well. Pit would take what he could get. After all, all it would take to explain was the push of a button.

Pit pressed the almost invisible button and an automated robotic voice began speaking.

_-'A Monoeye is a surveillance drone in the Underworld Army. Though it is capable of draining life from its target with its tentacles, a lowly Monoeye will never do so on prey like Pit. He's just too divine to touch!'_

"...What do you mean too divine to touch? Underworld monsters punch you all the time!" Dark Pit asked, defying Pit's expectations. Pit had anticipated his brother to be just as amazed as he was when Lady Palutena first showed him how to make the idol toss explain the idols. But Pit couldn't be that disappointed when he was still happy to be spending time with Pittoo.

Pit shrugged, "I don't know what it means either!"

Dark Pit balled up his hands in frustration, looking back at the _'trash pile.'_ He hated that despite being a "clone" of Pit he almost didn't know a thing about him (them?). The worst part was that neither did Pit!

_'"Too divine to touch?" Is that supposed to mean something? Is it an Angel thing?'_ Pit wasn't going to give him any answers, he knew that much. Dark Pit sighed in defeat and gave up for now. Today didn't feel like a day for finding out any sort of crushing realizations.

He glanced over to where Pit was deciding what egg to toss up next. "I wish I could be as carefree as you Pitstain." or at least stop overthinking things. Or thinking.

* * *

**-and nothing of value was lost-**

_-'The true master of the Underworld. He is immeasurably strong-even among the divine pantheon-but prefers to rule from the shadows, forcing Medusa to do his dirty work. Yet even with all this evil, Hades still manages to act nonchalant.'_

"Augh! First the Monoeye-and now this?! What did I do to deserve this kind of luck!" Hades may have been good and dead but every word and insult that Hades had said to Pit while he was alive still stung. The wasting of souls was also a very big reason why Pit didn't like him. Then there was also the various times Hades insulted Lady Palutena. Not to mention he also caused a war between the humans by tricking Pit into defeating The Immortal Phoenix. And a ton of other things Pit didn't want to bother remembering!

Needless to say, Pit hated Hades. A lot. And Dark Pit felt the same way.

"I'm glad you got rid of him. I wish I could have helped." while Pit had been eager to have Pittoo help in taking down Hades The Great Sacred Treasure unfortunately only had one seat, and even after hours of begging from both Angels Palutena decided it was too dangerous for Pittoo to fly behind Pit.

So, during the final battle Dark Pit decided to pout in the corner or Palutena's throne room and silently cheer on his twin from there, only giving the occasional glace whenever he heard signs of trouble. When Hades took Pit and the Great Sacred Treasure down he insisted he be sent out to help, which Palutena reluctantly agreed to do.

He'd shown up just in time to see Hades completely obliterated by Pit and the Great Sacred Treasure's final strike. A giant deadly laser.

Dark Pit smiled while reminiscing about the past, "...That was really cool." he whispered to himself.

"What was that?" Pit asked turning around from his important task of throwing Hades into a trash can. Dark pit flinched, he was really hoping Pit wouldn't hear him. "I said-! That was really...blue."

Pit looked confused, before realization set in. "Oh! Yeah the new head Hades grew after he lost his old one _was_ really blue."

Dark Pit decided that next time another God, or even Hades himself, threatened the earth and heavens _**he **_would get to drive the mecha while Pit got to watch. It just wasn't fair that Pit got all the fun of punching Hades' head off to himself.

* * *

**-hnnrrghh...viper blade huh?-**

_-'A blade said to have been forged from the scales of a thousand venomous serpents. It's one of the few weapons to inflict poison damage. Users of this blade should soothe its dark, nightly rattlings with gentle caresses._

"It. Does-WHAT."

"Oh, you didn't know?" Pit calmly asked. Too calm for him.

"NO!" though Dark Pit was familiar with all the different weapon types the heavens had to offer, he was of the type to pick the same weapon over and over again. Weapons like the Electroshock Arm and his Dark Pit Staff were the only weapons he needed. This guaranteed that he would never use any weapons outside of his comfort zone, and that comfort zone _did not_ have any room for a weapon that rattled and hissed.

"Let me show you then!" and before Dark Pit could object to his brother's kind offer, Pit was already rummaging through his drawers for something Dark Pit could only pray wasn't the Viper Blade.

"Tah-dah!" Pit said carefully holding up the Viper Blade by its handle, "Its the Viper Blade!"

Dark Pit didn't know whether to be shocked that Pit had something like that in his room or annoyed that Pit didn't tell him he had something like that in his room. "I...thought Palutena didn't let you keep weapons in your room?" at this point Dark Pit could care less if Pit was breaking one of Palutena's rules. Of course, after the initial shock wore off, he would probably be very proud of him.

"Yea-hmm! She doesn't." Pit adjusted the Viper Blade so that he held the handle in both of his hands, "But she makes a special exception for the Viper Blade! The noises it sometimes makes at night makes it hard for her to sleep."

Dark Pit looked at the strange blade that Pit held in his hands. He then found himself involuntary jumping from his seat when he saw the blade slightly move.

"Um-?!" was the only word that escaped Dark Pit's mouth. It must have been just his imagination right? There was no way a blade could make noises and move by itself could it? Dark Pit didn't even want to begin to imagine what sort of noises a blade that looked like THAT could make that were unnerving enough to keep Palutena, of all people, awake.

"And when it starts to make noises all I have to do is-" Pit held the blade close to him, but not close enough to accidentally hurt himself. Then he started talking to it. "Nice work Viper Blade! You showed that boss who's boss! You really need some friends!" Pit echoed. Dark Pit could do nothing but stare on in silence as Pit gently rocked the Viper Blade back in forth all while telling it what a good weapon it was. It was very VERY unnerving. "Alright! I get it!" Dark Pit shouted, "You can stop doing...whatever that is!"

Pit laughed nervously and put the Viper Blade back into his messy and unorganized drawers. "Don't worry it only makes noises after I take it out for training! And I haven't used it for a while so we have nothing to worry about!" Pit had always wondered if maybe the Viper Blade made so much noise because it wanted more attention or something, but it was most likely the fact that the blade probably had the life force of a thousand venomous serpents in it. No wonder the noises were so loud at night.

"Great!" Pit looked back at his brother who was curiously now sitting farther away from the drawers than before, "Now that that's over with never show me anything like that again!"

* * *

**-something like the viper blade but not-**

-'_Not only is this weapon closer in form and function to a blade then a staff, but it's actually a living creature! Despite its mysterious nature, the Somewhat Staff still retains its weapon type's movement restrictions.'_

"You. Have got to be kidding me."

Dark Pit held the idol in his hands and stared down at the very strange looking staff. He suppressed a yelp when he saw an eye on the idol of the staff blink. "Pitstain. You use some really weird weapons." without looking at the idol any more than he had to, he held it far away from himself and dropped it onto the neat pile of weapon idols Pit had created.

"They're not all weird..."

Dark Pit tripped on several words before being able to spit out a good rebuttal, "D-Did you even hear what it just said about it?! Its ALIVE, Pit! You use the eye to aim! How is that not weird?!"

"The Somewhat Staff is really nice once you get to know it! Sometimes the eyes wink at me!"

"AND I'm covering my ears!"

* * *

**-mind shattering-**

_-'These vengeful ghosts seem to be formed from concentrated misery and regret. All who come into contact with Orne have their-'_

"**Aaahh**!" Pit screamed and the Orne idol hit the ground with an unceremonious thump. It rolled over on its side, stopping right in front of Dark Pit's feet.

Dark Pit expected Pit to pick it back up and start talking about it just as he had done with the others. However, Pit seemed more interested in distancing himself from the idol as much as he could without actually leaving his room.

"Pittoo! What are you doing?!" Dark Pit looked up from looking the idol and instead looked over to his brother who had positioned himself just besides the frame of the door, "Get away from the Orne! You don't wanna get finished do you?!" Pit desperately yelled at him.

Dark Pit looked back at the idol and picked it up to get a closer look at it, to which Pit responded by grabbing his arm and pulling him back to where he'd been cowering just seconds before.

"H-Hey! Pitstain would you let go?!"

"But...But-! The Orne!"

Dark Pit managed to wrestle his arm away from Pit for what felt was now two times too many for that day. Then as Pit watched in horror as Dark Pit grabbed the Orne idol from the floor.

His fear only grew when Dark Pit held it right in front of Pit's face.

Pit's entire body flinched back and he forcefully closed his eyes, preparing himself for the inevitable. "Pitstain. Pit just look." Pit could hear Dark Pit say. Unlike him his brother didn't sound scared. So maybe...maybe it was okay to look? (but only for a little bit!)

Pit held his breath as he slowly opened his eyes. He hadn't noticed just how hard he was closing his eyes until he tried opening them. There were definitely some tears coming out.

Dark Pit noticed Pit's watery eyes and sighed. He hadn't meant to make him cry, he was just worried that Pit wasn't able to tell a toy from the real thing and that sort of thing would certainly cause a ton of problems down the line. That was it. The only reason he wanted to help. Dark Pit was NOT helping because he was worried about Pit and wanted to help him feel better.

Dark Pit turned his attention from defending himself to an invisible and ultimately imaginary audience, to calming down his brother. Pit was now looking at the idol with both of his eyes wide open. Now that Dark Pit had his attention, he decided that the best next thing to do was make the Orne look harmless.

Dark Pit decided to accomplish this simple task in the easiest way he could think of. He touched the Orne and had the good luck of living to tell the tale to show Pit that neither of them were in any danger. "See? Its an idol. Its not real."

Pit acted fast and snatched the idol out of Pittoo's hands.

"Hey!" he complained, but Pit was too busy examining the idol that terrified him enough to consider running out of the room just a few minutes ago. "You know...I see Ornes all the time, but I've never actually really looked at one." he turned the idol in all sort of different directions.

Pit looked at the Orne from above, below and sideways. "They're really scary aren't they?" Pit asked, looking at his brother.

"I guess." Dark Pit couldn't actually remember ever coming close to an Orne. The idol for one looked familiar, but he couldn't quite remember where exactly he'd seen one. But one thing was for sure, he was nowhere near as scared of them as Pit was.

Despite the crippling fear Pit had shown just a few moments ago, he laughed while he threw the Orne idol up into the air.

"Ornes are so weird! Lady Palutena says that touching one will finish me! But you know me-! Always getting finished! I must be a magnet to them or something cause I end up running into them all the time!" he paused, looking like he was thinking really hard about something. "But...the weirdest thing is I can't remember them attacking or running into them. Its so weird!"

It wasn't long until Pit was lost once again in his own thoughts. This time he was trying to remember the last time he had run into an Orne. Which just so happened to be back during his attack of Medusa's castle. Distracted by Lady Palutena, he mindlessly wandered into one and the next thing he knew he woke up just fine a few feet away. "So weird..." Pit repeated to himself.

Dark Pit groaned and sat down next to the idol toss waiting for Pit to inevitably give up trying to remember his past mishaps with Ornes.

Around a minute of waiting later, Dark Pit's eyes wandered back to the idol toss machine. That's when he remembered that the explanation for the Orne idol stopped prematurely, thanks to Pit. Maybe the rest of the idol's description would hold the answers to Pit's questions? It was a long shot, but Dark Pit was willing to give it a try. He was also very curious about it, too curious for his own good.

With no hesitation on his mind, Dark Pit pressed the convenient repeat button on the idol toss and the machine read out the description from the very beginning.

-'_These vengeful ghosts seem to be formed from concentrated misery and regret. All who come into contact with Orne have their minds shattered, with death following shortly thereafter. They are attracted to the life force of their enemies.'_

"I-I um..." Dark Pit looked back to see if Pit heard any of that but luckily, or unlucky, Pit seemed to be too busy trying to recount his visit to the Reaper's Fortress to care.

Dark Pit looked at the Orne idol being tossed up in the air and caught by Pit as he thought out loud to himself. If what the idol toss said was true, and it most likely was, then Pit had every right to be terrified of Ornes.

And Dark Pit couldn't lie, now that he knew more about Ornes than before he was glad he never actually ran into one.

...Or had he?

He unintentionally shivered, if he had run into one then he was glad he couldn't remember it. Hopefully Pit wouldn't be able to remember it either. Getting your mind shattered can't be healthy.

* * *

**-cant keep quiet for long-**

_-'Master of the Lightning Chariot. Long ago, he fought in wars of the Gods. His body may be ruined, but by walking the soldier's path in death, the master's soul still burns. He fights Pit to determine if the Angel is worthy of the chariot.'_

"So that's who that was." Dark Pit nodded in understanding as the idol toss finished its explanation on the mysterious Chariot Master that he'd heard so much about, but at the same time had no idea who they were.

Dark Pit turned to look at his brother, who seemed to be more interested in looking down at his hands than paying attention to the new rare idol he had got.

Dark Pit scoffed, Pit was being a baby again. "I don't see why you didn't tell me about him. He sounds like a cool guy." and if the idol was to be believed the Chariot Master even thought highly of Pit, something that was rarity among the people they knew. Even after defeating Hades it felt like 'Everyone pick on Pit day' never ended.

Whatever Pit did to impress the guy enough to earn custody of the Lightning Chariot of all things must have been something.

Dark Pit was almost mad that he wasn't there to see what it was.

"He was." Pit quietly said, not bothering to look up to see if Dark Pit was still looking at him. He prayed that Pittoo hadn't heard him.

And judging how Pittoo was busy picking out another egg to give to Pit to throw into the idol toss, it was safe to say he hadn't and Pit wouldn't have to think about the repercussions of his actions until another day.

* * *

**-(pittoo voice) get em' piggy!-**

_-'A stray dog roaming the city. Clever and affectionate, the dog had many human friends, each one giving him a different name. The Ring of Chaos passes from a girl to the dog before finally ending up in Magnus' hands._'

Pit held the idol of the dog close to him and tried his best to hug the small figure. "Aren't dogs just the cutest?! They're so fluffy and friendly!"

This dog especially! Pit still wished he had gotten the chance to thank the friendly dog for leading him all the way to Magnus. Of course, Pit had done most of the work but he was sure letting an Angel control your body wasn't an easy thing to do either, so he still wanted to thank them. And feed them treats. And pet them. A lot!

"Yeah. They're cute I guess." Dark Pit's tone of voice wasn't exactly uncaring, because he knew that without that dog neither of them would be sitting comfortably where they were now. Heck, Pit might still be in the ring if it wasn't for the girl and the dog.

Oh, and Magnus. He was pretty cool.

Dark Pit brought his hand up to his face, at first he tried to hide his obvious smile but decided against it, "Petting it might be fun. Too bad you'd have to find it first." Despite Dark Pit's best efforts Pit quickly took notice of his brother's sort of aloof response and with a sparkle in his eyes he acted quickly.

"Then how do feel about cats?"

Pit's question immediately lit up a response in his twin, when he almost chocked on his own gasp. "They're-! Um...they're cool."

"You like cats! I knew it! I like them too!" Excited, Pit scooted up to his twin and let his curiosity loose. "What do you like about them?! I like how fluffy they are and the cute little sounds they make! And their eyes are always really pretty too! I wish Lady Palutena would let me have one...and a dog! I want both! OH-! but then would Phos and Lux get jealous?"

Pit asked so many questions that Dark Pit didn't even know where to begin.

The one question Dark Pit couldn't help mull over was Pit's suggestion of having a cat. Sure, Dark Pit was fond of cats but he didn't actually want to like, take care of one.

For now Dark Pit was content flying above towns (with Viridi's help) and following any cat he happened to see (it didn't take much to convince Viridi.) Then while he followed them, he wondered how soft a cat's fur would actually be and how nice it would be to maybe feed it and pet it, if it wanted to of course. Black cats were his absolute favorite to spot...but Dark Pit did not want to have anything else to do with cats. No way!

Dark Pit crossed his arms and looked away, not wanting to look at Pit's eager face any longer. "Cats are okay. Dogs are fine. Just toss your next idol already!"

Pit frowned, frustrated that Dark Pit had literally answered none of his questions. His frown quickly disappeared when he looked back down at the Dog idol. He hadn't been lying one bit when he told his twin about wanting to have a dog. "Hmm...I think I would name my dog Pittoo-two!" Pit said ignoring his twin's demand.

"Then I would name my cat Pit-stinks."

* * *

**-where's the lore-**

_-'Based on the God of Love, the Angel Bow fires shots that relentlessly pursue their targets. However, they travel slowly and are not particularly powerful. Multiplayer opponents can easily dodge its shots when attacked head-on.'_

"Who's the God of Love?" Dark Pit asked his twin. He hoped that because Pit had _technically_ been around longer than him, he knew what other Gods were out there even if he hadn't been made to fight them.

Yet.

"Hmm..." Pit closed his eyes and thought about all the Gods he'd meet over the years. None of them really seemed like "God of Love" material to him. "I have no idea!" Pit responded with a shrug, before carelessly throwing the Angel Bow idol over his shoulder. "But if they're the God of Love they must be nice right? I'd love to meet them someday!"

"..."

"...You _see_\- I said I'd **LOVE** to meet them someday...a-and they're the God of Love so-"

"I got it Pitstain."

* * *

**-settle it in...an ar card battle-**

"Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're my friend now!"

"How many times do I have to tell you? We're not friends!" Dark Pit said while hanging out in Pit's room and sitting on his very comfortable rainbow rug, contemplating whether or not to take a handful of snacks from the snack bowl Palutena had blessed them with.

"Uh-huh."

Both twins had their backs to each other, as they went through a large pile of weapon idols they had divided among themselves.

The goal was to find the strongest and coolest weapon to represent themselves in a battle that would finally determine who out of the two of them was the strongest. Or at least it would determine which one of them had a future in competitive AR-card tournaments. Which, unfortunately, do not exist so even if one of them did have a future in them it would be all for naught.

After rummaging through his small pile of idols, Pit had decided on a pair of Orbitars to fight in his small name. Pit didn't really have much experience in using the Shock Orbitars but after hearing about them from the idol toss-

-'_These Orbitars gather their energy from the flaps of Pit's wings, releasing electric projectiles that disperse on impact. Their speed and range are nothing spectacular, but their charged shots have a high homing ability.'_

-He decided he should maybe use them more often!

The thought of his usually useless wings being actually used for something excited him. He would definitely have to keep an eye on his wings the next time he used the Shock Orbitars.

Pit looked at the tiny idol version of him and smiled. He looked so cool and serious! _'I bet when I'm grown up I'll look so cool all the Underworld enemies won't even try and mess with me!'_ he giggled to himself.

Meanwhile on Dark Pit's side- he'd, at last, finished going through his HUGE pile of weapon idols and after careful consideration had chosen _one._

-'_A weapon with the soul of a dark assassin. It has a short charge time, fires fast-moving shots, and boosts speed and agility. It even excels at melee attacks! On the other hand, it lacks in power, range, and homing.'_

The Ninja Palm! It was perfect! Pit would never see it coming!

After all, it wasn't a weapon he used often. Since Dark Pit usually stuck to his same four or three weapons. That meant Pitstain probably expected him to pick something like the Ogre Club or Violet Palm, but he was wrong!

...Also...because it was the Ninja Palm and ninja were generally known to be sneaky.

"Are you ready Pittoo? Cause I'm ready to bring you down!" Pit yelled from behind him. His own preparations were complete, and he was more than ready to face his brother in what would probably be the most important battle of their lives.

"I've been ready! What took you so long?" Dark Pit said lying through his teeth.

The Angels scooted closer to each other, making sure to keep their idols hidden behind their backs. "Okay! On the count of three we go, okay?" Dark Pit gave his brother a skeptical look. He didn't remember letting Pit make up the rules. That gave Pit a clear advantage in his opinion.

This meant that he would have to do something Pit would never expect.

"One...Two..."

Dark Pit looked straight at Pit, the plan he had was risky, but he was sure it would net him the victory. He gripped the idol in his hand, his fingers wrapping around it.

"...Three!"

then he threw the idol straight at Pit's face.

"ACHK!" Pit screamed, his hands flying to his face just seconds too late. The force the idol was thrown at was enough to knock Pit down almost flat on his back, his wings bending themselves at an unusual angle.

"Pit?!" Dark Pit hadn't meant to throw it that hard! That hadn't gone according to his plan at all. He jumped to his feet and stood above his twin who was still clutching his face in pain. "Are you okay?! I-I didn't...!" Dark Pit's mind was racing with worries. Was Pit okay? Was Palutena going to be mad at him? Was she going to make Pit fight him again?

On the ground, Pit couldn't decide which hurt more his face, his wings, or his feelings. "P-Pittooooo! Why did you _dooo_ that! I-I t-t-thought we..we..were-" he wasn't crying, not even close. But the temptation to run behind of Palutena to hide was stronger than it had been in years.

"Pit **shhhh!** Don't let Palutena hear!"

"I-I thought-! _Whyyy_ did y-you-?!"

"You can hit me back with an idol too if you want! Just shhh!" Dark Pit said, sitting down next to his twin to desperately whisper anything that would get Pit to forgive him and to not get in trouble.

Before Dark Pit could say anything else, Pit sat straight up and grabbed Dark Pit's scarf, his entire body was tense. "I don't want to do that! I don't want to hurt you!" Dark Pit took in a sharp breath, Pit had no business sounding as dramatic as he did. It felt out of place, it felt like something was very wrong.

Dark Pit stepped back, and Pit reluctantly let go of him. "Did...Did I really hit you that hard? You're not hallucinating, are you?" if there was something wrong he would have no choice but to call Palutena, whether he wanted to or not.

Pit quickly shook his head. "I'm fine...! My head hurts, no duh. But I really wouldn't want to throw an idol at you!" his body relaxed, and he sat down on the rug next to Pittoo. Dark Pit moved away to give Pit more room to himself.

Pit rubbed his forehead, it was still a little red from the impact. "Cause I'll have you know it really hurts!"

"Sorry."

"Its okay! I'm fine!" Pit stood up, flapped his wings and stomped around to prove to his brother that he was perfectly okay. While Pit's demonstration did convince Dark Pit that he was fine, it didn't do much to help him feel less guilty. "So don't worry about it! Anyway, you should be happy!"

"About _what_?" should he be happy Palutena, by some miracle, hadn't come bursting into the room, asking why Pit was writhing in pain on the ground?

"Pfft no!" Pit stood up and held Dark Pit's arm over his head. "You should be happy cause you're the first ever idol toss champion! Goooo Pittooo! MY-second. BEST FRIEND! " Pittoo snatched his arm back and turned his head away to hide his obvious blush.

"We're not friends...we're like, brothers...or whatever."

"What was that?"

"Nothing! I didn't say anything! Just toss another egg already why don't you?!" Dark Pit stood up and stormed away in a huff, but since they were both still in Pit's room he could only storm away so far. After walking angrily in circles he eventually decided to mope on Pit's hammock.

"Hhmpph...I didn't say anything..." Dark Pit grumbled out loud to himself.

Pit smiled and happily flapped his wings. He had heard Pittoo loud and were right next to each other after all.

* * *

**-one time a reaper spotted me through a wall and well...-**

_-'Reapers serve as lookouts for the Underworld Army. When they spot an enemy, they let out a piercing scream that summons their feisty servants, the Reapettes. They also use their giant scythes to reap the souls of their victims.'_

"Yikes!" Pit dropped yet another idol to the ground, scrambling back a bit before remembering Pittoo's wise words about how idols had no real way to hurt him. He didn't even dare look back at his brother. Pit didn't have to, he knew that Pittoo would more than likely be shaking his head in disappointment at how he'd reacted to another harmless toy.

Pit, however, couldn't have been farther from the truth. Because even Dark Pit jumped in surprise when the light faded and revealed the Reaper. It didn't take long for Pit to calm down and crawl back to where he'd dropped the idol. He picked it up and looked at it closely.

Pittoo was right, it was just an idol and there was no way it could hurt him. It was just a harmless toy. Not a Reaper ready to slice him in half. "Ha...Reapers sure are annoying. Right, Pittoo?" in reality, he thought they were way more terrifying than annoying, but Pit had to say _something_ cool to not look like a weakling in front of his arguably tougher twin.

"Yeah." Dark Pit paused to think over-Something. "Yeah they sure are annoying to deal with."

Dark Pit couldn't speak from experience since he'd never actually encountered a Reaper face to face himself. The closest he ever got to facing a real Reaper was back at the City of Souls, when he'd flown as fast as he could to save Pit's wings and his life.

At the time, he paid little attention to the Underworld monsters attacking him and instead focused entirely on getting to the Rewind Spring as fast as he could. He figured the reason he was so nervous about them was because of some of Pit's memories still being stuck to him. Yet, despite thinking that, he couldn't exactly remember those memories. It was mostly the feelings of living through those memories he remembered. So, Dark Pit couldn't help but ask for a little more clarity on them. "Why are you so scared of them anyway?"

Pit gasped and looked away, shocked that Pittoo saw right through his topical award nominated acting. He hadn't acted that scared of them, had he? Not that it mattered now that Pittoo knew. Pit might as well confess.

"Its cause they're scary?"

"..."

"You know its true! And that's all I'm gonna say!" Pit crossed his arms and looked away from his judgmental brother.

Dark Pit didn't bother asking Pit for any more information, because he knew from experience that was definitely not the end of the talkative Angel's rant about Reapers. He could feel it.

"...Like, here I am, trying to walk down a dark hallway, and if that wasn't scary enough there has to be Reapers there too! With their laser eyes that can spot me a mile away! Then when they do, they always have to always call their Reapettes after me! _Then_ I start panicking and then the Reaper down the other hall spots me too and starts screaming at me too! Its _sooo_ stressful Pittoo! I never want to see another Reaper for as long as I **live!**"

Dark Pit looked at his brother, his eyes were wide and Pit was out of breath. While he'd expected a little more from Pit, he hadn't expected the kind of response that Pit had just given him. The feelings he remembered now made sense.

He remembered feeling scared, mad and sad all at the same time. Dark Pit didn't even know Pit was capable of feeling more than one emotion at a time.

"That's really specific." Dark Pit shrugged, "I guess, if that happened to me, I would hate them too."

By now Pit had finally caught his breath, he hadn't meant to explode about how much Reapers terrified him, but there just one little thing that he missed mentioning. He knew Pittoo didn't like it when he talked too much, but it was just one little thing. How much would he mind?

Pit smiled at his brother, Dark Pit's expression remained unchanged. "...That's why I like using the Reaper Palm so much! It gives them a taste of their own medicine!"

"O-Oh."

And then Dark Pit made a mental note to watch out for Pit when he saw him wielding a Reaper Palm.

* * *

**-you see, its funny, monoliths can be destroyed. you just have to be five years old-**

_-'Monoliths are flying objects that are said to have once been used in the training of soldiers. They repel all attacks, and their magic properties allow them to ignore gravity and freely transport Underworld troops.'_

Dark Pit silently looked on as Pit threw the newest idol into a pile of idols he had dubbed _'The trash pile.'_ He could understand calling it that and throwing Hades and a Reaper in there-but what was up with throwing a Monolith there?

From what Dark Pit experienced of Monoliths, they were pretty annoying to deal with, but not on the same level as Hades or even a Reaper. Heck, if you gave Dark Pit a choice between either of the two, he'd choose to fight the Monolith any day of the week.

"You can't fight a Monolith. Didn't you hear what the idol toss said? They can reflect attacks." Pit said, correcting his brother on his private hubris-filled thoughts again.

Dark Pit decided to shoot back with his own correction. "I can too! Has anyone ever tried to melee a Monolith? I bet that would work! You can't reflect melee attacks!"

"You can."

"Says who?!"

"Monoliths."

"Monoliths don't-!" Dark Pit's comeback would have to wait another day or two, because just as he was about to deliver it he noticed that Pit was acting...strange. There was a sad faraway look in his eyes, as if he were trying to remember some distant event from his past.

Once again, thanks to their odd connection, Dark Pit couldn't exactly tell what his twin was trying to think about. Only how he felt about it, and those feelings were far from pleasant.

It was the most bitter he'd seen Pit as far as he could remember. With something that didn't involve the Chaos Kin or Hades anyway.

"Hmph. How does throwing Monoliths at someone train them anyway...?"

"You wanna talk about it?" Dark Pit knew that the chance that Pit would talk to him about _whatever_ it was that he was thinking about was slim, probably none. Mostly because he could also feel that Pit was trying his hardest to keep Dark Pit from finding out what was on his mind, even when Dark Pit hadn't made the attempt. When exactly Pit learned to do this was a mystery to him, but Dark Pit suspected he was doing it unconsciously. In other words, it didn't surprise Dark Pit to hear that Pit's answer to his question was-

"Maybe later." Pit said, with a smile.

* * *

**-happy creation day-**

_-'As the Goddess of disaster and calamity, Pandora builds the Labyrinth of Deceit, where she's thought to be using the Mirror of Truth to create Underworld troops. Though she sounds jaded, it's just an act, for she delights in trickery.'_

"Shes just a big dumb ball of gas if you ask me!" Dark Pit said voicing his opinions on the Goddess of Disaster _and_ Calamity before Pit even had the chance to ask what he thought about her.

"Don't even get me started on what happened after she jumped into the rewind spring!" Dark Pit stood up and walked around the room continuing his rant all about how much Pandora got on his nerves. Being very careful to step around the various tossed around idols now decorating Pit's room. There wasn't much Pit could do at this point but listen. He agreed with Pittoo on most of what he said about Pandora, especially the part where her tricks and illusions got on his nerves.

The breaking point came when Pittoo said, "-if you ask me the best thing she's ever done was get killed and help me fly! And she couldn't even do that right!" There was little Pit could do to keep himself from speaking up.

"That's not true!"

"Huh?" Dark Pit looked at his twin, confused at what Pit could possibly mean. "You're kidding right?" there was no way Pit of all people would defend Pandora's actions, would he? She'd caused enough trouble for the both of them for Pit to realize she wasn't a good person. Right?

"Well..." Pit looked around the room for an uncomfortably long time. He didn't need any sort of twin telepathy to tell that Dark Pit was eagerly awaiting an answer from him, but the truth was that he had no plan for explaining himself. All he knew was that when Pittoo said that Pandora had never done anything right but die, something in Pit's heart told him to yell out that that wasn't right! He couldn't explain it but the only thing he knew that-

"If it wasn't for Pandora we never would have meet!"

"...W-What...?"

Pit found the right words he'd been looking for and he was going to make sure Pittoo heard them. Even if it meant Pittoo might punch him or something. "If Pandora hadn't tried to make a copy of me, we never would have meet! You're my friend and I'm really glad to have you here! And if I have to thank Pandora of all people for that, then I will!"

Pittoo was speechless. And bright red. He was doing that a lot lately.

"Ugh! Shut up!" he said before walking up to Pit and graciously granting his twin a punch to the arm. "I don't owe Pandora anything! Least of all my creation! That was all me!"

Despite being proven right about Pittoo's response Pit couldn't help but laugh while rubbing in arm that was now in incredible pain.

* * *

**-for more on phyrrhon please pick up his autobiography: **_**'From Godhood to Controlling an entire Alien Race.'**_**-**

_-'After Pyrrhon tries to take over the Aurum Brain and control its vast army, the Aurum Brain wins the battle of minds and absorbs him, destroying his free will and using him as another weapon in its arsenal.'_

Dark Pit was getting pretty sick of seeing idols of people and things he'd never once seen in his entire life. He couldn't even begin to guess what the story behind this guy was. Maybe Pit had fought this guy in the past and he'd come back for revenge. Or maybe he was Palutena's distant cousin twice removed.

Whatever the story, he was sure Pit couldn't wait to tell him all about it.

"Pittoo! I just realized you never meet Pyrrhon! Let me tell you _aaaalll_ about him!"

"Figures." Dark Pit once again leaned back into his beanbag chair and readied himself for another of Pit's long and disconnected stories. Maybe this one would be more of a '_Skyworld cleaning day explanation' _rather than a _'Pit tells the story of when swears he saw a fairy then trails off talking about his favorite type of granola.'_

Pit grabbed the Pyrrhon idol and stood up on his old desk chair that he decided he would use as a makeshift stage. "It all started back when the Aurum invaded-"

"You lost me."

Pit laughed and smiled nervously, this was going to be a complicated story.

"Um...Okay! So, there was this army that attacked us...but I saved the world! But Pyrrhon was a jerk about it and now he's in space!"

"Now I'm just even more confused!"

In the end both parties decided that Pyrrhon was just in general, not worth their time.

* * *

**-fact 55-**

The first thing Pit and Dark Pit noticed on the new idol Pit had received was the long green hair of a familiar goddess.

Pit smiled and excitedly flapped his wings when he realized that he'd finally gotten an idol of Lady Palutena. He couldn't wait to tell her and show her that all his hard work finally paid off!

Meanwhile, Dark Pit scoffed and looked away. He'd had enough of Palutena for one day, he didn't need to see in her miniature toy form too.

Then the idol spun around.

_-'A twisted version of Palutena created by Dyntos as a joke. During the appearance of Pseudo-Palutena, Dyntos put the real goddess to sleep miles away. This amazing feat is evidence that Dyntos's power exceeds even that of Hades.'_

"WHAT IS THAT?!"

"AugH! Go away! Go away!"

The hideous idol of Pseudo-Palutena dropped to the ground with an unceremonious **THUMP** and sat there waiting for someone to pick it up.

Pit cautiously stood up from where he was sitting and for a second Dark Pit thought that his twin was going to actually pick up the cursed looking idol. That was until Pit started gently kicking the idol into their trash pile. In the same manner one would kick a dead insect.

"What are you doing."

"Getting" kick "Rid" kick "Of it." kick.

It didn't take very long for the idol to finally be kicked into the trash pile it would call home, until Pit pushed them all into his closet to make sure he never saw them again.

Pit dusted off his hands, despite never having used them once in the act of kicking. "There we go! Problem solved!" he would never ever have to look at the fake Lady Palutena ever again! Or even talk about it ever again!

"HELLO?! WHAT WAS THAT?!" a very confused and underused in Kid Icarus Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems Dark Pit said. Now more than ever he knew that he missed out on a lot of Pit's adventures and instead of feeling annoyed of it now he was mostly just very worried. "What else happened to Palutena while I was out?!"

"Dyntos."

"You're gonna have to be a little more specific!?"

Pit was seriously starting to regret ever having the idea of playing idol toss. If he'd known there would be this many bad idols, he would have spent the day playing mini golf with Pittoo instead. But, the least he could do was answer Pittoo's question. "The God of Snacks and Salsa. Dyntos? You've never heard of him?" Pit asked. In response Dark Pit shook his head, "Never heard of him."

Pit internally groaned, he didn't mind telling Pittoo about this story, but remembering anything about the three trials that Dyntos had given him always filled with a weird feeling of apprehension.

If he thought too hard about it, he would start thinking of the possibility that if anything had gone wrong during them, the world might have ended right then and there. Because without the Great Sacred Treasures he wouldn't have stood a chance against Hades. And there was no moment that had more of a chance of going wrong then when Palutena(?) decided to attack him in the middle of one of his trials.

It was a good thing he fought back but, why did Dyntos make him fight Lady Palutena?

"Hello? Earth to Pitstain? I'm still waiting for an answer."

"Huh-?! Oh Right! Um, well we meet when I had to do three trials to get the Great Sacred Treasures and..." he leaned in close to his brother to make sure Lady Palutena and Dyntos didn't happen to hear him. Dark Pit leaned in ready to hear whatever secret his twin wanted to tell him. "...I don't think Dyntos likes me very much."

"A lot of people don't like you."

"That's not the point!"

"If he really didn't like you he wouldn't have given you the Great Sacred Treasures."

"I guess..."

Dark Pit let out a snort, "But I guess you did end up breaking the treasures. So maybe he really does hate you now."

Pit eyes widened in fear and his face went pale. "Y-You really think so-?!" he looked around the room in a panic, expecting to see Dyntos suddenly materialize in his room ready to clobber him with the hammer the idol version of him wielded. Getting hit by that thing would finish him in one swing for sure, and it would definitely hurt.

"I'm kidding, don't start crying or anything." Dark Pit felt a twang of guilt. He didn't think Pit would have gotten so scared from such a simple threat.

"I wasn't going to cry!" Pit said looking away from his brother. He hadn't felt himself start to cry but just in case he was going to make sure Pittoo couldn't see his eyes. "Besides-! Didn't you hear what the idol toss said?!"

"Um, that Dyntos created the fake Palutena?"

"HE PUT LADY PALUTENA TO SLEEP! HE MIGHT EVEN BE STRONGER THAN HADES!" Pit's wings were nervously flapping fast enough to toss loose feathers all over his room.

Much to Dark Pit's annoyance.

Dark Pit flicked a loose feather off his face and looked to his distraught brother. "So what? Just because he's stronger than Hades doesn't mean we can't beat him if he comes after us." it was a big boast but Dark Pit was confident that if anyone could handle a God stronger than Hades, it was both of them.

Pit had other ideas. "Piiiitoooo don't say that! Please! You're actually gonna make me cryyyy!" he weakly hugged his brother and begged him to reconsider. Unfortunately, Pittoo was having too much fun to budge on his lofty opinion.

"Hmm...I have a better idea." he raised his fist up to the sky while Pit continued begging him to shut up. "Hear that Dyntos! We're ready for whatever challenge you got for us. Doesn't matter what, we can take you on! I'm sending you straight to the grave old man!"

"**PITTOO!**"

Meanwhile, thousands of millions of miles away Dyntos chuckled to himself as he set a reminder to create two fake Palutena's next time Pit _and_ his twin came around.

whenever that was.

* * *

**-i hit my foot on the edge of my bed while spinning-**

_-'Pit strikes this pose when trying to look cool, especially when yelling at Underworld fiends. He put so much time into creating it, even bosses are supportive of the effort.'_

"What am I looking at?" Dark Pit asked the small version of his brother that he held in the palm of his hand. The small Pit said nothing in return because as we all know toys cannot talk back. On the other hand, the real Pit was more than glad to answer his brother's question.

"_That's_ version five of my rallying cries!" Pit eagerly explained, and before Dark Pit could ask what happened to the other four versions, he found himself pulled up to his feet by his overly excited twin.

"Watch! watch! You gotta watch!" Pit quickly ran to the center of the room. He took a few quick glances back to his dumbstruck brother and adjusted his position accordingly. With his back to Pittoo, Pit spoke loudly and clearly to him, "Okay! Pretend you're an Underworld monster and say something boss-y to me!"

Dark Pit looked around the room still completely lost at how he ended up in his current situation. At this point he figured there was nothing he could do but play along. "Um...Ahaha? I've...got you now...Pit?" despite his reputation, being a villain did not come very naturally to Team Villain veteran Dark Pit.

Pit tried his best to hold in his laugh, but found a giggle escaping anyway, "Is that really the best you can do?"

"I'd like to see you do better Pitstain!"

"That's more like it! I knew you could do it!" Pit flashed a thumbs up to his brother. Dark Pit simply rolled his eyes.

Pit took in a deep breath and counted down before starting his show, hopefully he wouldn't mess up. Too badly.

"Okay...!" Pit held up his hand, in a real scenario a weapon would be held in it, but he hoped his empty hand wouldn't hinder his demonstration.

"Enemies of the light and allies of darkness-!" Pit held his unfortunately weaponless hand to his right and held his other hand in a fist in front of him. "- your treacherous ways stop now! Because the angelic reaper Pit is here to end your life!" Pit spun not once, but twice in a row and once he stopped he spread his wings, scattering a few more feathers around his room.

A few moments of awkward silence followed as Pit appeared to be trying different poses to end his rallying cry on.

Pit tried a pose where he held both his hands up as a sign of victory but that one didn't make sense, if this was before a battle that meant he hadn't won yet.

Then he tried one where he held up one _'victory'_ sign but that one just didn't feel right either. He cycled through several before he remembered Dark Pit was still in the room, silently watching and judging.

"Um. W-What do you think?" Pit took his rallying cries very seriously and this was the first time he was going to get an opinion about one from someone besides the boss that was unlucky enough to see it. Even then, the bosses never gave him any feedback, but they did patiently wait for him to finish so Pit always assumed they liked it.

"Hmm..." Dark Pit had been thinking for a very long time, which was worrying. Finally, after an agonizing thirty seconds of deliberation Dark Pit had formed an opinion he was happy with.

"You're facing away from me!"

"Oh! Uuuh!" after stuttering a bit Pit finally turned back around to face Pittoo. Pit smiled nervously "Its a work in progress okay?!"

It had been a work in progress for over three months now.

* * *

**-the scars of chaos run deep-**

_-'An evil being whose strange power may even surpass that of the Gods. It is mindless, only possessing the desire to cause disorder and disaster. Long sealed in the Lunar Sanctum, the Chaos Kin is suddenly free to spread anarchy.'_

The twin Angels stared at the familiar idol that Pit held in the palm of his hand.

Neither Angel wanted to think about the Chaos Kin ever again, let alone look at the damned thing. Those chapters of their lives, though far away now, still hurt thinking about now as much as it had hurt living through them.

Even so, Dark Pit found himself quietly staring at it alongside Pit.

At first Dark Pit was annoyed with the Chaos Kin for causing him to inevertably conk out for three years straight. Then as he found out more about what happened with it and Palutena he grew disgusted to learn how it had puppeteered her around for so long. _No one deserved that sort of fate, not even her_. Then when it tried to take him over and caused Pit to burn his wings off...

that's when he decided he hated it.

If that was how he felt back when he had no real personal connection to Palutena, he couldn't imagine how Pit was feeling right now.

He turned his head from staring at the idol to look at his brother. Pit was scarily calm, given what he was holding in his hand. _'You have to say something-!'_ Dark Pit thought over his next words carefully but there was nothing he could really think to say.

Just when he thought he found the right thing to say he would immediately close his mouth after he considered how Pit might react. Eventually Dark Pit decided to bite the bullet and just go for it, "Hey Pit? You okay?"

Pit said nothing back.

_'Oh great.'_ that must have been the wrong thing to say. Then before Dark Pit could think of anything else to fix what he'd said-

Pit silently threw the idol at the wall. It was thrown with so much force the impact cracked the marble wall of his room. The idol was broken into pieces.

Pit closed his eyes and turned to smile at his brother, "Let's try again Pittoo!"

* * *

**-This message is intended for Dark Pit only. -**

_-'Prototype of a bow designed by Palutena, it's the only weapon of its type whose shot power is higher at close range. Also features a relatively high firing range and homing ability, making it a solid choice for skilled users.'_

Pit held the idol in his hands, looking at it carefully as he turned it in all sorts of different directions.

"Pittoo, this is your bow isn't it?" Pit was _very_ familiar with one of Dark Pit's signature weapon. There wasn't a point in time Pit could remember when Pittoo didn't use the Silver Bow. Of course, when you get slashed and hit with the same weapon over and over you learn to spot it easier.

Dark Pit nodded and reached over his back, where his Silver Bow usually hung from.

His mouth formed a silent gasp when he found nothing there. Mentally retracing his steps, he came to the conclusion that he'd left so quickly from Viridi's temple that he must have forgotten it. Dark Pit scowled, he never went anywhere without at least one weapon, he had to be prepared to fight at any time after all.

But...that idea was placed into his head back during his first days of his existence.

If he had forgotten his weapon back then he would have been a goner. Now though, he didn't mind as he thought he would. He felt safe. Which was surprising, but only a little.

While Dark Pit wondered if his Silver Bow was safe, Pit was deep in thought. "A...prototype? What's that mean?"

Pit's innocent question yanked Dark Pit right out of his retrospective. "N-No idea! Let's move on!" said a Dark Pit who very much knew what a prototype was.

He wasn't quite sure of the exact definition, but even he could put the pieces of _'weapon'_ and _'designed by Palutena'_ together enough that he knew that the mysterious bow he found on the windowsill of Skyworld was not just _'a lost weapon someone left behind.' _

It had been so coated in dust Dark Pit didn't think anyone would have missed it. While he'd been right, he still felt a _little_ bad for stealing something as important as a prototype. Though it wasn't like he could walk up to Palutena and formally ask to keep it at this point.

"Ooh...I was kinda hoping you would know. Maybe I'll ask Lady Palutena about it later."

Dark Pit sighed in relief. He knew Pit would most likely forget to even mention it to Palutena so for now, he was in the clear. He looked over to where Pit set down the Silver Bow idol. He couldn't help but stare angrily at the little version of him in the idol. _'What kind of idiot takes a weapon they just FOUND?!' _

He could still remember the cold shiver of fear he felt when he saw Pit walk up to him wielding the Palutena Bow, and right behind him was Palutena, smiling and staring right at Dark Pit and his Silver Bow.

* * *

**-eye see u-**

-'_Bonus enemies who reward those who defeat them with tons of extra points and hearts. They dash away when found, so do what you can to take them down before they disappear. Foodies beware: that cherry on top is actually an eye!'_

The Souflee idol landed softly in Pit's hands as he turned to smile at his brother.

Dark Pit could feel another question coming his way, a question he in no way was prepared to answer given what he had just heard about Souflees only a second earlier.

Pit held the idol up to his face and smiled brightly. "Don't you think Souflees are the cutest things ever?! I feel so bad for shooting them down sometimes!" cuteness wasn't going to buy him any new weapons any time soon, so Pit shot them down without mercy anyway, "I just wanna give them a big hug sometimes! Don't you Pittoo?!"

"No." especially now that he learned more about them from, ironically, Pit himself. "Didn't you hear what it just said about their face and their **eye**?" Dark Pit pointed straight at the red orb on top of the Souflee, "Something 'cute' doesn't have a giant red eye and a fake face! "

In an act of seldom seen rebellion, Pit set down the Souflee idol on his lap and crossed his arms, "YEAH. AND?"

* * *

**\- **_**Thank Palutena.**_** -**

_-'Despite her reputation for wisdom and mercy, little is known about the history and motivations behind the Goddess Palutena. What she lacks in military might, she makes up for in her brave champion, Pit.'_

"Did you hear that Pittoo?!"

If Dark Pit hadn't heard it himself from the idol toss machine he wouldn't have believed it.

Palutena, the great and benevolent Goddess of Light, was hiding something. Something from her past.

He always suspected it and he had a feeling that Palutena wasn't always being truthful. But, to hear it from someone other than his own thoughts was earth shattering.

He knew now that Palutena wasn't _all_ that bad, certainly not the worst God you could extend your fragile trust to, but even so she was still a God. A God that had more than likely been around long enough to harbor a life changing secret or two.

That only left one more question, what could her secrets be about?

Dark Pit wondered to himself. Could it be about what Palutena did before Pit was around? Could it be a secret about Pit himself?! Was she hiding something so secret that it was a secret even to her?!

The possibilities were endless and Dark Pit could only think of so many by himself. Clearly, he would need some help for this. With no other real options Dark Pit looked to his brother for help. Who, to his surprise, faced him first with a big wide smile on his face.

"It said I'm Lady Palutena's brave champion!" Pit laughed and closed his eyes, imagining all the future praise Lady Palutena would give him after his future battles.

Dark Pit let out a loud and long groan.

* * *

**-i, as the author, am not smart enough to discuss moral quandaries so its a perfect fit really-**

_-'Spoiler alert: Medusa saves the day! Medusa's surviving spirit stops Hades before he can deliver the finishing blow to Pit. In her weakened state, she can't hold him off forever, but the Goddess gets an A for vindictive tenacity.'_

Dark Pit and Pit were silent as the light from the idol slowly faded.

Just before the idol dropped, Pit managed to jump forward and catch it in his hands. "Phew..." Dark Pit peeked over Pit's shoulder to try and get a good look at the idol. He thought he was imagining things when it first appeared. After all, what reason would Medusa have to punch Hades square in the jaw? Didn't she work for him? Maybe the benefits weren't good enough for her.

"Let me guess?" Pit looked behind his shoulder and his eyes locked onto a very caught off guard Pittoo, "You're confused about this one too?"

Dark Pit silently nodded. It looked like he was getting used to being clueless. He didn't like the feeling much still, but at least Pit was still willing to explain things. Oh boy was he ever.

"Well the truth is..." Pit's voice trailed off and he stared blankly ahead. "I'm...I'm still confused about this one too." though confused, he knew very well the reason why Medusa had attacked Hades like that, she had said it herself.

_'I won't play the puppet anymore!' _

Pit knew deep down that Medusa had only acted to help herself. There was no other reason. She didn't do it to save Pit, the humans, or even Palutena herself. She couldn't have cared less about saving them when all she had revenge on her mind. Pit sighed, "Right before Hades was going to blow me up Lady Palutena and Viridi sensed something-or someone trying to come and help me. Everyone was surprised to see Medusa." the idol shook in his hand.

Dark Pit didn't want to bring it up, instead he waited for Pit to finish his story.

Pit paused to think, before he smiled. "And then-! Medusa punched Hades right in the face. She punched him so hard his head flew off! ...I think. I don't remember all that well but-! His head was totally gone! I remember that!"

Dark Pit mentally kicked himself for not being there to see that smug jerk get what was coming to him.

Well, the idol did a really good job of giving him a preview of what it was like, but it probably wasn't even close to beating the real thing. On the bright side, being able to see Hades' frozen pain-stricken face did make him feel better about it.

"But then-" Pit's wings dropped down, along with his mood. "But then Hades punched her right back, and I guess Medusa wasn't strong enough to take it so she just...disappeared."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Huh?"

"All Medusa was good for was causing disasters, shouldn't it be a good thing that she s gone?"

_'Of course, its a good thing'_ Pit thought.

Without Medusa around the Underworld wouldn't be attacking the humans or the heavens. Skyworld and Lady Palutena would be safe and Pit could relax and not have to worry about having to be sent out to fight. The world and humankind was finally at peace without Medusa or Hades.

"I guess you're right." Pit agreed with his twin, just as Dark Pit expected.

He knew that Pit still saw the world in simple black and whites, so it didn't surprise him when Pit quickly agreed with him. There was only so much moral questioning Pit could ask himself. Trying to decide if Medusa of all people deserved a second chance was just too out there for him.

However, even by Dark Pit's standards his answer would be no. She did not. Not after everything she'd done.

"I just wish I'd gotten the chance to say thanks."

* * *

**-tears of a broken dream -**

"No...No! **NOOO!**" Pit's cries of sorrow echoed through his room and down the hall.

A group of Centurions roaming the halls heard the worrying noises and immediately flew into action, flying toward the sound of their wailing captain.

Around ten minutes of flying around later, they arrived at Pit's room.

Before the first Centurion could ask what was wrong he was quickly and quietly shushed by their Dark Captain. The centurions, now much more confused than before, looked around the room for any sign of their Captain. He could still be in danger after all.

Piles upon piles of idols were spread all across their captain's room. The Centurion in the back of the group silently prayed their Captain would be spared from Palutena's fury for not cleaning his room. Again.

In the middle of the mess was the Captain himself. Only, instead of happily greeting them like he always did, his attention seemed to be drawn to the broken eggshell he held in his hands. "I didn't mean to throw it that way!" he sobbed right into Dark Pit's shoulder. The Dark Captain gave an understanding nod.

"It was a blue egg too..." Dark Pit whispered. There wasn't much either of them could do to save it once it hit Pit's wall. As soon as Pit launched it, it was too late for the poor egg and whatever rare idol could have potentially had been inside it.

"IT WAS A BLUE EEEGG!" Pit wailed back.

The group of Centurions silently flew in place. Now even more confused than before.

* * *

**-big sister phosphora-**

_-'A beautiful and powerful electricity-based warrior in the Forces of Nature. While victorious in her battle with Thanatos, the wounds Phosphora receives make her weak in the fight with Pit that follows.'_

"Ugh! Out of all people Why did it have to give us her?!" Dark Pit stood up and as fast as he could, tried to extend the distance from him and the idol as much as he could while still being inside of Pit's room.

Pit looked at his brother and then back to the idol of Phosphora he held in his hands. It was no secret that Phosphora liked to tease both Angels. Sometimes It even reached the point where Viridi had to break up several fights between the three of them. But, when she wasn't floating above them and laughing at how they both couldn't reach her if they tried, she was actually kind of nice.

Or at least, she was a lot nicer than a lot of other people that Pit meet over the years.

_'I don't think I should say that to her face...'_ Pit thought. Worst case scenario, he might end up with a bad electric shock.

A loud crashing noise took him out of his own thoughts and turned his attention back to his brother who was still complaining very loudly about Phosphora.

All that complaining had all built up into a quick kick to a wall in Pit's room. Pit's various Nintendo collectibles and stuffed animals on a shelf hanging on the wall shook from the impact. "H-Hey! Don't go around kicking walls! You might hurt yourself! Or the wall!" Pit gently set the Phosphora idol down and walked towards his brother.

"What's gotten into you?" Pit hovered his hand over Pittoo's shoulder, afraid that if he touched him, he would only make the situation worse.

As of that morning Pit had begun suspecting, better late than never, that Pittoo maybe wasn't the biggest fan of physical contact. He'd made a silent promise to himself to try and do his best to only do it when Pittoo knew it was coming. Hopefully he could draw out a reminder somewhere important so he could remember that. He was worried he might forget it if he didn't.

That said, that worry was taking a back seat to his other more important worry that Pittoo and Phosphora might have had a falling out. Or maybe Phosphora had beaten Pittoo in a fight and he was just really upset about it? Or maybe-!?

Sensing Pit's growing anxiety over his anger, Dark Pit decided to explain himself. If only to keep his twin from coming up with any more absurd explanations for his behavior. "Viridis making me go on a stupid mission with Phosphora. She says it'll be good 'training.'"

"...Training for what?"

"Exactly! At least someone understands!"

"And why do you need to go with Phosphora?"

"THATS WHAT IVE BEEN SAYING! BUT NO ONE LISTENS TO ME!" instantly Dark Pit felt a weight lift from his shoulders.

He had spent the better part of yesterday trying to convince at least one member of the Forces of Nature that him going on a mission with Phosphora would either end in disaster or with one of them dead.

To his growing disappointment no one in Viridi's temple seemed to understand him or even worse, they agreed with Viridi that he needed the training. Dark Pit even got desperate enough to try and reason his cause with the Bumpety Bombs. Unsurprisingly they didn't listen and only blew up in his face, much like that plan had.

"Err..." Pit moved from standing behind of Pittoo to standing in between of him and the wall. "I don't really know what's going on...? But if it makes you feel better maybe I can come with you and Phosphora on your mission!"

"It wouldn't."

"Great! I'll talk to Lady Palutena about it! Then she can talk to Viridi about it!" Pit skipped back to the idol toss and got ready to load in another bunch of eggs.

Dark Pit sighed in relief, grateful that his twin was able to call his bluff. With Pit there maybe Phosphora would have someone else to mess with other than him.

* * *

**-strike one.-**

Right as Pit was going to launch one of his last idol eggs, Palutena had suddenly called him out of the blue for some help in the kitchen. By the tone of her voice the matter was urgent. Dark Pit could see it clear in his twin's face that this was an order he desperately wanted to refuse, but since Pit was, well Pit, he followed Palutena's orders and ran to the kitchen.

"I'll be right back! You can launch an idol egg if you want. I won't mind! Promise!" Pit said right before leaving Dark Pit by himself, surrounded by idols and idol eggs.

Dark Pit grumbled his frustrations aloud to himself. "What's so important in the kitchen that Palutena can't do by herself?" and why hadn't she called him too?

"She probably needs a taste tester..."

After only a few minutes of waiting, and making idols fight to the death, Dark Pit grew inpatient and decided to take Pit up on his offer.

Dark Pit would at last toss his first idol egg. Such a momentous occasion deserved to be captured on video, but he knew the less people knew about him playing idol toss the better. Dark Pit didn't need Viridi or anybody awarding him idol eggs anytime he came back from a scouting mission. _'She'd probably be really smug about it.'_

There were only a few idol eggs left, and only a few that would guarantee new idols. Dark Pit didn't think it would be fair to take away any of Pit's chances of getting a new idol, so he decided to take the most common of the eggs, a white one. "It's not like I _**care**_ what I get anyway. I'm just passing the time." he reassured himself.

Dark Pit knelt next to the idol toss and **GENTLY** placed the egg on the dish. He made a silent wish, one he didn't even hear, and pushed down on the dish.

"...What am I waiting for? Its just idol toss!" Dark Pit let go of the dish, not bothering to look up to see what idol he'd won. After all, it wasn't like he cared about rarity or helping Pit complete his dumb idol collection.

...okay maybe a quick peek wouldn't hurt.

Dark Pit, with all the subtlety of Cragalanche sneaking into the kitchen at 3AM, looked up. But as soon as the light started to fade around the idol, a strange noise began coming from the idol toss itself.

"What the-?" as soon as Dark Pit looked over to the idol toss to check it, he noticed a strange glowing color above him. The light coming from the idol was flashing all sorts of different colors. His first panicked thought was that he had somehow managed to break Pit's idol toss, but that didn't make any sense! He hadn't done anything different than what Pit had done all day!

While Dark Pit was busy hypothetically running around in a panic and thinking about how much a new idol toss would cost him, the mysterious light surrounding the idol suddenly faded.

From it, a small idol fell directly on Dark Pit's head with a -_bonk_\- sound.

"Ow!" Pit had been right, being hit with an idol really hurt. Dark Pit looked around for the idol that had rudely attacked him to give it a piece of his mind. Though in retrospect, there wasn't much he could say that would probably insult it.

It didn't take long for him to finally spot the odd idol out. It laid behind him just a few idols away. Though, even if it hadn't landed there, Dark Pit still would have noticed it. Considering the idol that he had gotten looked...off. "Somethings wrong." Dark Pit picked up the strange idol and held it up to examine it closer.

The idol was his signature (and favorite!) staff, the Dark Pit staff. The staff that had, for some reason or another, come out of the mirror at the same time as him. At least that's what he figured was the case. That wasn't the strange part, however.

The idol was **just** his staff. there was no one holding it. Not him, not Pit, not even a dark or light soldier. The staff was just floating there, by itself. It was completely different than all the other weapon idols that Pit had gotten.

Maybe Dark Pit had done something wrong and the idol came out broken? Or maybe it was such a rare version of a weapon idol that Pit had never even gotten it before! Dark Pit hoped that for Pit's sake it was the latter. At least that way something good would have come out of this.

At that point Dark Pit could have easily set the idol aside and Pit would have honestly never even have questioned it. Pit would have more than likely just thought it was a cool different idol and gone on with his day.

Instead, Dark Pit's curiosity got the better of him.

With idol in hand he walked over to the idol toss...

and scanned it. An unfamiliar voice clear as day began to speak.

"**This weapon may be called a staff, but it actually does better shooting powerful shots at targets at long range. Like Dark Pit, this staff was created by the Mirror of Truth. If Pit ****wer****e ̩to use it he'd probably feel lingering echoes of his clone's warped personality."**

"...Huh."

* * *

**-brave the unknown-**

After Pit returned from Palutena's errand covered in lettuce and chocolate he asked, practically begged, Dark Pit that the both of them postpone their game of idol toss until the next time Pittoo visited. Which Pit hoped was very soon, everything was so much funner with his twin around.

"I'm so tiiired! How about we just play some video games instead! Like Smash Bros.! Let's play smash!"

Dark Pit didn't bother to mention to Pit that playing video games was a much more arduous task then playing idol toss. Especially when it came to playing fighting games. "We still have to figure out what a quarter-circle is Pittoo! Come on with the both of us there's no way we can't figure it out!" Pit beckoned his brother closer to his hand-me-down tv and purposely vague video game console.

"Fine. But I get player 1."

"Uh-huh. Just like always."

Pit handed his brother his usual reserved controller, the one without the chewed up cable, and then ran off to grab two bean bag chairs they could both sit on.

Dark Pit watched his brother struggle to grab ahold of both chairs at the same time and decided it would be faster if he just helped him. "There he goes again. Needing me to save him." he joked to himself, he didn't mind.

"Hey Pitstain! Let me pick my own seat!" Dark Pit stood up, but froze when his eye caught sight of a familiar idol.

Lying not that far away from him right where he absentmindedly left it was the strange Dark Pit Staff idol he'd gotten. It looked like Pit hadn't noticed it and in his tiredness, even managed to forget that he told Pittoo to try and get his own idol.

Dark Pit couldn't believe he was actually happy that Palutena was probably going to poison him and all of Skyworld with what Pit helped her cook earlier.

"Piittoo! Are you going to help me or not?"

"I am! Just wait up! Geez."

Dark Pit walked over to his brother, his eyes still fixated on the Dark Pit Staff idol, even as he was pulling the bean bag chair back to where he and Pit would be sitting. It wasn't just the idol itself that caught Dark Pit's attention. It was what the idol toss told him about his own Staff that interested him.

_'Echoes of his clone's warped personality? What's that supposed to mean.'_ the description confused him so much that at first he didn't even notice he had been called a clone. And once he did, he didn't care, there were more important things to worry about than someone insulting him.

At least, this time there was.

_'What does it mean? Would Pit act like me? Or turn into me?!'_ the thought of Pit acting like anyone besides, well, Pit, was too unnatural to even think about. Dark Pit had known his twin exactly as he was for his whole life, how could holding a simple Staff cause someone to change their entire personality?

It didn't make sense. None of what the idol toss said about the Dark Pit Staff made sense.

Pit turned on the television and sat down on his respective bean bag. "Are you ready? I'll have you know I've been practicing my half-circles!" Pit rotated his controller in the air in a half circle, "I think I'm an expert now!"

"You don't need to show off..." Dark Pit looked down at his own controller. It was covered in stickers that Pit had no doubt collected over the years. A half-peeled off sticker shaped like a lightning bolt on the center of the controller caught his attention. "Wait..." that's when he remembered something from just a few moments ago.

_'But if it makes you feel better, maybe I can come with you and Phosphora on your mission!'_

The simple outline of a plan started to form in Dark Pit's head. The first step of the plan was already in place, the mission Pit had volunteered to go with him on. After that, getting the Dark Pit Staff into Pit's hands wouldn't be hard. Pit would happily take any weapon his twin offered him.

Dark Pit would get his answers one way or the other.

* * *

:)


	9. Pittoo, Phosphora and Pit II take off

**In which Dark Pit, Phosphora, and Pit II go on a mission**

* * *

**-everything goes according to plan-**

Today was the day.

The day when Dark Pit would get his answers.

Well. I mean, probably not all of them. Just. Some of them.

...Okay, just one of them. One answer

That is, if Dark Pit decided to go forward with his 'less than thought' out plan of having Pit hold the Dark Pit Staff. Something he knew Pit actively tried to avoid doing in case he would upset Dark Pit, which meant the first and only step of the plan wasn't going to be easy. Not at all.

"Ugh! Get it together! Its not going to be that hard!" Dark Pit took a quick look back at the Dark Pit staff that lay on top of his bed, "Its just gonna be a little tricky. But you can handle that! Your whole life has been tricky! And now here you are-! Alive and...about to..." he looked away from the Staff and began to pace around his room like he'd been doing earlier, mindlessly kicking around his mess of toys and food wrappers he never bothered throwing away.

"Who let it be so messy in here? AUGH! Focus!"

The most worrying of Dark Pit's concerns was that there was no way of knowing how bad the effects of '_Hearing the lingering echoes of his warped twins personality'_ would have on Pit.

Whatever _**that**_ meant!

Whatever the idol did mean, Dark Pit did know he wouldn't want any echoes of Pit's personality in his head. Not to mention the idol was calling _**him**_ a warped twin. What did that mean? Was there anything that it did mean or was this just another case of somebody else misunderstanding him.

Again.

Dark Pit sighed, sitting down on the edge of his bed. "If anything goes wrong, I'll be there to save him. I know I will." there was no way he was going to just hand Pit the Dark Pit Staff and run away. He could never bring himself to do that. That would be dangerous for both Pit and his prized valued 387 Staff.

With his worries pushed to the side for now, Dark Pit straightened up and clenched his fists, "If this is the only way I'll know then I have to-! Pit will understand!"

He paused, his back slouching back down a bit. "At least I hope he will."

Before Dark Pit could reconsider any more than he already was, there was three loud knocks at his door. "Yoo-hoo~! Pittoo? You ready to go yet? It's rude to keep someone waiting this long and you've already kept me waiting for way longer than that!" Phosphora's voice rang out from behind the door to his room along with a couple more of her impatient knocks. "Palutena and Pit will be here any second and you don't want to keep them waiting too, do you?"

No, he didn't.

"I told you to give me a minute, didn't I?!" Dark Pit yelled back, pushing himself off his bed. "You didn't even give half a minute before you started complaining!"

"Pretty sure I gave you at least three. Maybe you just don't know how to tell time? It wouldn't surprise me."

"No, you didn't! I think you're the one who can't tell time!"

"Oof. You got me right where it hurts. My time management skills." Dark Pit couldn't see it, but at that moment Phosphora dramatically floated just above the floor. She considered lying on the ground until Dark Pit decided to come out of his room but the chances of him kicking her while she was down were dangerously high.

And after hearing rumors of his vicious kick Phosphora decided she didn't want to take the chance of being on the receiving end of one.

"Okay, but for real. Hurry it up will you? We can't put the mission off because you couldn't find your lucky scarf, or whatever." Phosphora zipped up from near the ground and knocked on the door a couple of more times for good measure.

"For your information-! I'm already wearing my lucky scarf!" Dark Pit tugged on his scarf and pouted. What scarf could be luckier than the one he was _'born'_ in?

He took a step forward but stopped and looked back at the Staff on his bed. "...Better leave it here. I''ll come back for it later." there would be a better chance to ask Pit to hold onto the Dark Pit Staff after the mission briefing.

Another five knocks in a row brought Dark Pit back to the more annoying problem at hand.

"Hold your horses! I'm coming!"

Without giving Phosphora any warning, Dark Pit swung the door open. "Whoa! You know if I weren't so fast you coulda' almost hit me. A for effort though." Dark Pit grumbled and slammed the door behind him, "Who ever heard of doors that open outward anyway?"

"Ask Viridi, not me. I only sleep here."

* * *

**-meanwhile, a few hours before the last subchapter—**

In truth, Phosphora was not just egging Dark Pit to hurry because she was getting inpatient. As luck would have it, Palutena and her young pupil decided to arrive fashionably early to Viridi's temple.

"A Goddess is always on time! And an Angel is no different!" Palutena said, lecturing Pit on yet another lesson about punctuality. Pit did not say anything back because he'd been asleep at the back of Palutena's personal chariot at the time.

The pair arrived around six hours too early, to Viridi's surprise.

"I have half a mind to kick you out and send you back home!" but of course she didn't. Instead Viridi kindly let them wait in the oh-so-illustrious guest room while she sorted out everything for the mission ahead of Pit and his friends.

"Thank you Viridi, I appreciate the hospitality."

"Ehh."

"If you need us you know where we'll be!" With a small smile, Palutena, while carrying a still very sleepy Pit on her back, exited Viridi's throne room and followed the Nutski that would escort them to the guest room.

"Lady Palutena...I still...wanna sleep..." Pit muttered into her hair. Palutena let out a small laugh. While Pit had always been a light sleeper he still enjoyed every single second of sleep he could manage to get before being awoken by the smallest noise imaginable. "Don't worry Pit, once we get to the guest room I'll let you sleep for as long as you want." it was important for an growing Angel to get their ten hours of sleep after all.

"Yay..." Pit cheered, raising a weak fist into the air.

* * *

**-turned on happy home designer just for this-**

The guest room that Viridi, out of the kindness of her heart, sent Palutena and Pit to was probably the oddest guest room that Palutena could remember staying at in her nearly a millennium of existing.

Or at least odd by Palutena's standard.

To its credit, the room had all the necessities a bedroom should have. A warm bed, a couch, two coffee tables in the corner of the room, an all-natural magical glowy lamp in the middle of the room, and plenty of plants growing from the walls and floor.

There were so many plants in the room it was impossible to walk without stepping on one of them.

Luckily for the plants and Palutena, the poorly decorated room also had the benefit of having the bed placed right in front of the door. So, there was no need to walk any more than she already did to place Pit somewhere where he could sleep comfortably.

"I guess the Goddess of Nature has never heard of interior design" as gently as she could Palutena sat down on the bed next to Pit, "Hmm, maybe we came here too early? What do you think Pit?"

"Close...sun..." he muttered back.

Palutena sighed, "Still deep in dream land, aren't you?" with a wave of her staff a Nintendo 3DS Family Entertainment System materialized in her hands. "Sleep all you want Pit. I get the feeling we'll be here a while." she said, making sure to turn the volume all the way down before resuming her save file of 'Samus Returns.'

* * *

**-right there! right on!-**

A few hours passed with no word from Viridi. Fortunately (or unfortunately) by now Pit, was wide awake. Impatient to get going, Pit asked over and over _and over again_ if they could go yet. To which Palutena answered, every time, with "No. Not yet."

Unable to contain his excitement of getting to go on a mission with Pittoo, Pit decided to let it out by jumping on the bed (since there was nowhere to walk) and talking with Lady Palutena about how excited he was.

"Its been for-**EVER** since we worked together! We're a really good team, you know-_when_ we get to work together...Oh-! What weapon do you think he's bringing? I bet he's gonna take the Ogre Club! That one really hurt to get hit by! You know, back when we first met! That was really smart of him to hide underground like that! Wish I thought of it..."

Palutena laughed, she couldn't help but smile seeing just how excited Pit was to visit his twin. Even with how often Pittoo visited, Pit looked forward to every single one of them and she was sure Pittoo felt the same way.

"Are you excited to see him too, Lady Palutena?"

"Of course I am, Pit." she couldn't lie, it would be more than nice to see how he was doing. He lived so far away she worried about him sometimes.

All the time actually.

* * *

**-we're back to the regular timeline of events now. so sorry about that-**

Phosphora and Dark Pit were slowly, but surely, making their way through the mazes of tunnels of Viridi's fortress.

By now, Dark Pit had already memorized a good part of the tunnels. After getting lost once or twice on his own he decided he was done with getting lost and needing help. Despite that, Phosphora and the others still kept a close eye on him whenever they could.

Even when Viridi didn't order it.

"Soooo?" Dark Pit winced hearing Phosphora's voice. He'd honestly forgotten she was flying just a little bit behind of him. For some reason.

"You excited to see Pit again?"

"Why would I be? We talk like every day through telepathy"

"I bet he'll be happy to see you. He seems like that kind of guy."

"Annoying?"

Phosphora gasped and quickly flew in front of Dark Pit, "I meant _nice_! Geez Pittoo, that's pretty mean to talk about your only brother like that." Dark Pit tried his best to push Phosphora out of his way, but since Dark Pit really enjoyed not being electrocuted, the best he could do was push the air around her. Phosphora rolled her eyes and slowly floated out of his way. "Happy?"

"I'm delighted. Now come on! You're slowing us down!"

While Dark Pit walked ahead of her, Phosphora sighed and slowly shook her head. It seemed like the Forces of Nature were really going to have their hands full with a bratty teenager for the next few centuries. "...You're the one that stopped walking."

Then again, who was she to call him a brat?

* * *

**-anyone else out there who hates getting suddenly hugged make some noiiiise-**

As soon as Dark Pit and Phosphora stepped foot (and also floated) into Viridi's throne room, they were greeted by an all-too familiar and overly peppy voice.

"Pittooo! And Phosphora toooo!"

Standing in the throne room was Pit. Right next to him was Palutena who, thanks to Pit, noticed Dark Pit and Phosphora come in. "Pittoo! Its so good to see you! And its a pleasure to see you too Phosphora!"

Palutena walked over to Dark Pit, an excitedly bouncing Pit right behind her. She did a good job of hiding her joy at seeing Dark Pit not back away from her once she got close.

"Hey..." Dark Pit lazily waved back, looking away from the Goddess and the still bouncing Angel.

Palutena smiled and adjusted Pittoo's crooked laurel crown. "I'm happy to see you're doing well! I hope you can visit us back in Skyworld soon. Pit and I always love having you around!" things were certainly more exciting whenever Pittoo came to visit. The mysterious energy that occurred whenever Pit and Pittoo decided to play together did cause more than its share of trouble, but the Angels enjoyed themselves nonetheless!

Pittoo blushed a light red and instinctively shielded himself using his wings.

This didn't go unnoticed, especially by Phosphora. "Awww! You guys really do embarrass easily! How cute!" Phosphora always assumed that Dark Pit and Pit were more alike than they let on but the more she hung out with them, the more she actually saw their similarities.

"Shut up..." Dark Pit whispered, too quiet for anyone to hear.

A light tug on Palutena's dress reminded her that there was still a certain someone who was still not-so-patiently been waiting for his turn to say hello to his favorite twin, "Whoops! I guess I've kept him waiting long enough!"

Dark Pit was temporarily snapped out of his attempted cold shoulder, "Wait, kept who-?"

"Pittoo!" Palutena stepped back and allowed Pit run towards his twin. Pittoo tensed up and braced for impact, only to see Pit stopping just a few feet in front of him. "I'm so happy to see you!" Pit stretched out his arms in front of him. Pit, now well aware of his twin's aversion to sudden and surprise contact, came up a super easy solution for the both of them.

If Pit held out his arms for a hug then Pittoo would know Pit wanted to hug him, and Pit wouldn't even feel bad if he said he didn't want one!

...or at least not for that long anyway.

Dark Pit sighed and held out his arms in a similar fashion to his twin, signaling that, yes, a hug from him was fine.

That was the cue for Pit to let loose and hug Pittoo as much as he could.

And that meant a hug big enough to pick him off the ground and squeeze him tight. Before Dark Pit could do anything but look confused, Pit circled around his twin and hugged him from the back. "H-Hey! Let me go Pitstain!" From where he was now, the only thing Dark Pit could do was kick his legs in defiance. Pit giggled, "Okay Pittoo!" and then Pit didn't.

Palutena smiled brightly and laughed along with Pit, happy to see both twins getting along.

"Gee Pittoo, I didn't think you were that light." Phosphora's voice trailed off as she thought of something, "...Or is Pit that strong?" recalling the large Club that Pit used as a weapon back when they first meet. Phosphora suddenly began strongly considering the amount of teasing she put both Angels through. Not enough to think about stopping anytime soon of course.

Viridi, meanwhile, rolled her eyes.

* * *

**-hug another day-**

After minutes upon minutes of back and forth arguing, Viridi finally had enough.

It wasn't so much that she was tired of seeing Pittoo try to kick and uselessly kick his way out of Pit's grasp. No, that part was hilarious and strangely heartwarming. Her frustration came from the fact that she'd been planning this mission all month and now they were all horribly behind schedule.

"I know you're all having a moment. Or whatever. But how about we deal with the reason you're all here in the first place!" Viridi slammed down her staff, demanding the attention of everyone in the room.

Only Palutena seemed to notice Viridi's impatience. Not even Phosphora paid her boss any mind, too busy teasing Pittoo on how easily huggable he apparently was. Palutena did her best to suppress a giggle.

Viridi noticed that no one was really paying attention to her and proceeded to slam her staff into the ground repeatedly, but no matter how much noise she made no one seemed to bat an eye. Palutena sighed and silently agreed with Viridi that it would be best if they got started already.

Palutena softly tapped Pit on the shoulder. He turned around to face her almost immediately, his arms still wrapped around his twin. "What's up Lady Palutena.?" Pit asked. At the same time, Dark Pit let out a loud grumble and stared Palutena down with his nastiest glare yet. "I think-" Palutena gestured behind her to Viridi, who noticed Palutena's intentions by now and expertly switched from slamming her staff onto the ground to cooly tapping her foot on the ground. "I think maybe Viridi wants us to get started on the mission briefing."

"Okay Lady Palutena!"

Both the Angel and the Goddess stared at each other. Phosphora covered up a laugh using her scarf.

"Pit?"

"Yes?"

A pause.

"Don't you think Pittoo might pay better attention to the plan if he were on the ground?"

"...OH!" Pit exclaimed, quickly bringing his arms to his side and steeping back. Finally free from Pit's tight hug, Dark Pit dropped right onto the ground.

"Ow."

"Aw, Sorry Pittoo...It just feels like I haven't seen you in at least two months!" Pit tried his best to laugh off his little mistake. He held out his hand to help his brother up from the ground, and to his surprise (and Dark Pit's) he ALMOST took it. Neither twin said anything, but Pit's bright smile and Dark Pit's wide eyes were worth an entire paragraphs worth of words.

Hoping to save himself some extra embarrassment, because Dark Pit could have sworn he heard a small _'Aww...'_ coming from Palutena, he decided to correct Pit on another one of his mistakes "W-We talk all the time through telepathy! What are you talking about?!"

"This is different!"

"No it is not!"

In the midst of their small argument, Phosphora gently floated right above them, causing their hair to stand up on end. It was something she was well aware annoyed both Angels. "Aww you two are just ADO-RA-BLE!" then as if being called adorable wasn't enough Phosphora landed the finishing blow when, using both of her hands, she ruffled both twins' heads until their carefully combed hairstyles were unrecognizable. "I think its sweet how you two get along. I could eat an entire cake and it wouldn't be as sweet. Pffft..."

Both Pit and Dark Pit couldn't get away from Phosphora fast enough. "No we are not!" they both agreed. They were both the farthest thing from adorable. They were cool and tough Angels!

All while this was happening Palutena was using her power of filming on her brand-new divine phone. And poor Viridi was still trying desperately to start up her presentation. She hoped that everyone would get bored of teasing both Pits.

...eventually.

* * *

**-arlon helped viridi finish this powerpoint at 1am in the morning-**

After everyone and everything calmed down Viridi directed her audience of three, plus Palutena, to the center of her throne room. Three plain green chairs were placed in front of where Viridi was standing along with a strange pile of rocks.

Pit and Dark Pit took their respective seats, but not before arguing for a minute or two because both of them wanted the same chair. Thankfully Palutena quickly ended their little squabble by leading Pit to an adjacent chair and standing closer to him. All while that was happening, Phosphora decided to float just above her given chair. Sure, she earned a single glare from Dark Pit, but Phosphora did nothing more than stick out her tongue at him in response.

Once the audience was all seated and ready to listen Viridi directed their attention to...Herself.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I've gathered you all here today."

"Not really." answered Dark Pit, slouching down onto his chair, "You've been talking about this mission for the past month! I swear I've had dreams of you talking about it."

"You have dreams like that too?!" though Pit's dreams were usually more Palutena focused and he never minded them, much unlike how Dark Pit felt. Before Dark Pit could dismiss Pit's question, Viridi started up her speech again.

"Everyone please hold your stupid questions until the end of the presentation!"

Dark Pit whispered a tiny, "Pffft." and decided to continue to tune out Viridi. Or at least some of Viridi. Phosphora sighed, knowing that she would probably have to explain a very specific part of the mission to Pittoo because he decided it would be in his best interest to not listen. "What a pest..."

Pit glanced over at Palutena for assurance. She gave him a small thumbs up and a smile, then Pit straightened up in his chair, ready to listen.

"...Alright then." Viridi waved her staff, then a waterfall starting from the ceiling fell into the center of the room. The water stopped just short of hitting the pile of rocks on the floor. This happened magically of course, because I don't know enough about the schematics of how waterfalls transfer water to explain the whole thing.

On the waterfall an image of familiar forest was projected onto it. The forest being the same forest all of them were currently floating above.

The forest was almost completely covered in a strange fog, masking the sight of Viridi's temple from anyone staring in from the outside. The trees of the forest were a dark purple, adding to the mystique of the magical properties that were supposed to reside inside. The forest was also said to be cursed, a false rumor initially spread around by Viridi herself.

Unfortunately, the actual cursed beings that resided in and around the not-cursed forest did not get the memo that it was all a **lie **and decided to actually make the innocent forest their home. Which really did turn it into a cursed forest in the end. Viridi would have found it annoying it if wasn't so good at keeping humans away.

"So lately more and more humans have been wandering into my cursed forest-"

Pit leaped out of his chair in worry, "Oh no! Are they okay?!"

Viridi sighed and locked eyes with Pit, staring him down. "Hmm, well, what do you think Pit? Do you think a human would survive walking into a _cursed_ forest **potentially** filled with _**monsters**_?!"

Pit silently slumped back down into his chair.

"Now where was i..."

Using her staff Viridi pointed at the projection on the waterfall. "Your mission today will take you here! To the forest right under our feet." With a wave of her hand she directed Arlon, who has been at the back of the room this entire time catching up on his favorite novel, to click on the next slide.

He did just that and projection of the inside the forest was on the screen. Or at least it should have been.

The screen projected onto the screen was nothing but static. "I know you all have a lot of questions but listen up! Here's your answer for why I'm sending all three of you on this mission." Viridi began explaining.

Dark Pit thought about the repercussions of bringing up that originally Viridi was only going to send him and Phosphora, but before he could say anything about it Viridi already moved on to her next topic.

"Because of all the unwanted activity, there seems to be some sort of barrier around the forest."

"What does that mean?" Pit asked. This earned him a glare from Viridi who was mere seconds away from yelling at him to shut up. Thankfully Palutena stepped in and answered for her, "It means that our telepathic signal can't reach you when you're in the forest."

"Ah! Thanks Lady Palutena! So what does that mean?"

"It means they can't talk to us or give us the Power of Flight." Dark Pit looked over to Viridi, "Am I right?"

Viridi sighed and gripped her staff, her one simple rule of asking questions at the end was ignored by practically everyone in the room but her. And Arlon. But he was keeping to himself, so he hardly counted. "Unfortunately, yes. No talking to you. No giving you orders-"

"Fine by me!" Dark Pit boasted, if it meant he wasn't going to be pestered by two Goddesses speaking directly into his head every second then maybe being stuck in a cursed forest filled with things trying to kill him wouldn't be so bad after all

Ignoring Dark Pit's sass, something she was getting really good at, Viridi continued. "-And no Power of Flight. That's why I'm having Phosphora come along. She can fly you out in case there's trouble."

"Hold on." Phosphora raised her hand, "I'm all for following orders or whatever, but why am I suddenly some sort of taxi service? Do I have a say in this?" Viridi intended to answer Phosphora's question with a straightforward, 'No.' However, someone else decided to beat her to the punch.

"Probably not." Dark Pit answered. Phosphora shot him a sour look. Dark Pit flapped his wings and looked away, "Hey its not like I'm happy about being carried around by you either! So don't act like you're the only one mad about this!"

"Hold on." Palutena stepped up besides Viridi, carefully avoiding the waterfall as to not step in front of the projection. "Before we get upset, why don't we let Viridi finish her presentation she worked so hard on."

There was no response from the esteemed audience. Save for a few impatient foot taps from Dark Pit.

"Great! Now that that's settled..." Palutena looked down at Viridi and smiled. Viridi didn't dare look the Goddess of Light in the eyes. "...Why don't you finish your presentation I woke up at three in the morning to make it to. I'm looking forward to it!" still smiling Palutena made her way back to Pit's side, he smiled wide once she made it back.

"Hhmph. That was your decision to wake up so early, grandma." Viridi grumbled to herself.

"Mistress Viridi! Language!" Arlon yelled across the room.

* * *

**-the root of the problem-**

After _more than a couple_ boring slides Arlon insisted on adding about how Phosphora and the Angels would begin their mission, it was finally time to address what kind of threat they would be facing in the forest below.

"Ugh, finally. I thought those safety slides would never end." as much as Viridi appreciated Arlon's help in making her last-minute presentation, she mostly agreed with the now-napping audience members that they were a _bit_ boring. The mission wasn't ever going to start at this rate, even if Viridi was kind of impressed Palutena managed to nap while standing up. " I don't think the demonstration on the buddy system was necessary Arlon. There's three of them."

"On the contrary, Mistress Viridi. The _'3-way buddy system'_ is rare but is crucially important in a situation such as this."

"Ain't gonna help much if they're asleep for most of the explanation though."

"Hmm...I may have harped a tad too much on the safety precautions in case of poison ivy."

"You think? Oh well, let's finish this up." Viridi smacked the end of her staff on a large bell she bought for the very purpose of waking up her Forces of Nature during long, but necessary, briefings. Cragalanche was a frequent offender and the entire reason she invested in it.

"Wake up you lazy bums!" Viridi yelled while ringing the large bell. The sound loudly rang through the room, Pit woke up first with a scream so loud it threatened to overtake the bell's ringing in volume. The rest woke up in right after this, Phosphora's head whipped around from side to side, her eyes finally landing on the accursed bell that already had woken her up so many times before this.

Meanwhile, Palutena awoke with a simple yawn and Dark Pit jumped up so high he almost hit the roof.

"Alright! Welcome back everyone! I hope you enjoyed your little break because I'm still not done yet!" Viridi smugly smiled. "I didn't." Dark Pit said, adjusting his laurel crown that fell off when he leaped up in half awakened surprise.

"Great! Cause there's only one more thing left so listen up to this one! Its very important! Maybe even life or death important."

Arlon continued the slideshow and then, projected on the waterfall was a very familiar drawing to the denizens of Skyworld. And Dark Pit. The professional painting showed two blue and purple solid figures with big smiles drawn on them, surrounding them was a dark blue sky. In the corner of the drawing was the artists' signature, a crude drawing of their face with a mat of brown hair.

"Hey!" Pit jumped out of his chair and pointed at the drawing, "Tha-That's my drawing! How did you get that!? Lady Palutena-"

"Pit, calm down." Palutena softly put a hand on his shoulder to quiet him down, "Its alright, I let Viridi borrow the drawing for this. I hope that's okay?"

"Its...fine. I guess. If you were the one that gave it to her..." Pit relaxed in his seat again, but it didn't take long for him to tense up again. "Wait! What does Viridi need my drawing for?"

"Yeah, why does she? Its not even that good." Dark Pit agreed, ignoring the harsh glare Pit was giving him. "You guys are Goddesses and the best you could do was Pit's dumb made up drawing. Don't you guys have enough money to buy pictures?"

"Ooh! So its Pit's drawing! Interesting!" Phosphora looked at it closely, trying to decipher what it was supposed to be. Unfortunately, Phosphora's weekly online art classes weren't as useful as she boasted they were, so she was having a lot of trouble trying to tell what Pit's kindergarten scribbles were. "What was your inspiration Pit?"

"Its none of your business!"

His twin had other ideas. "I can tell you."

"Don't." Pit pleaded.

"Oooh! I'm all ears!" Phosphora cried in excitement, ignoring the disappointed sighs of her boss who was nearing her wits end after so many distractions. Viridi figured if there was any time to have this discussion it would be now, so she let it happen without any trouble.

~...~

Dark Pit began telling a story from around a few years ago. When during one of their rare run-ins, Pit pulled Dark Pit aside to show him a drawing he'd hastily stuffed behind his belt.

Pit then began to regail Dark Pit in a fantastical story on how that morning, while Pit was taking a morning walk, he spotted fairies, _REAL FAIRIES_ flying around Skyworld. They flew around in a small circle and Pit just knew that they were watching him, or maybe even calling to him. Pit only managed to get a few steps towards them before something scared them into flying back down.

"I swear they were there Pittoo! Maybe they were judging me whether they could grant me a wish or not!"

"I don't think fairies do that."

"I think I'm pure hearted enough to get a wish granted from them! Ah! I think I would wish to be able to fly by myself! Or-Or maybe I should wish for a BILLION wishes! That's more than a million you know!"

Even throughout all of Pit's babble about wishes and being good enough to receive one, Dark Pit hadn't believed Pit's story, not even for a second.

~...~

Back in the present, Pit jumped in his seat and drooped his wings sadly "Pittoo..."

"What?"

"You said you would keep that a secret!"

"Wha-?! How can I keep it a secret now that its up there!" Dark Pit crossed his arms and defiantly flapped his wings, "Besides everyone knows fairies aren't real. Pitstain was probably sleep walking or something."

"They are real! I saw them!"

Dark Pit sighed and shook his head, clearly unconvinced.

But, his brother wasn't going to give up that easily. "Oh yeah? Then why are there Fairy Orbitars?!"

"Just because there's weapons about them doesn't mean they're real! Are you gonna tell me bears are real too?"

Viridi decided that enough was finally enough. It was time to get on track, and she knew exactly what to say to shut everyone up.

"Fairies are real."

Pit and Dark Pit stopped arguing and turned to look at her, their eyes were wide, their mouths slowly closed as they began to slowly process the bomb of truth that was just dropped on them.

In the midst of this, Pit decided to turn and look at Palutena, as if to ask his Goddess if he heard Viridi right. Palutena gave him a nod and a small smile. She knew all along that Pit's fairy tale was true, but as to not put him any danger she kept her mouth shut.

"You don't know how good it feels to be able to tell you! I'm horrible at keeping secrets you know."

"Oh. We know." Viridi said, a dry tone in her voice.

"Hmm."

It only took a few more seconds for the new information to finally process through the heads of the uninformed.

"Fairies are real?!" all three members of the audience exclaimed in surprise. Both Angels paused their own surprise to look up at Phosphora, who's face was just as shocked as theirs had been just a few seconds ago.

"HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW?! HAVENT YOU BEEN LIVING HERE?!" both Angels said together.

"Not usually!"

* * *

**-why wont fairies return my calls-**

With the huge earth shattering fact that fairies were in fact a real thing in this world filled with Gods and magic out of the way, Viridi was confident that the rest of her presentation would be smooth sailing from there on out.

Unfortunately, she never accounted for Pit.

With him the questions never seemed to end. Pit raised his hand over and over to ask whatever question popped into his head and because Palutena was there its not like Viridi could say no. Not with the deathly glare she got from the Goddess of Light whenever Viridi was tempted to shut him up.

.

"Is it true that fairies only appear for pure hearted people!"

"Sometimes."

.

"Why do they glow anyway?"

"They're magic."

.

"Ooh! Do you think they can use their magic to help me fly?!"

"Probably not."

.

"Can...Can fairies actually grant wishes?"

"Its...complicated."

That last question was Dark Pit's, but Viridi still answered it. She could tell he was just as curious about fairies as his brother was, but to save face he was letting Pit ask all the questions for him. She had to hand it to him, that was a pretty impressive strategy.

Phosphora, on the other hand, just wanted to know how the existence of fairies flew over her head the entire time she worked for The Forces of Nature.

So, while Pit and Pittoo were busy asking their questions she turned back to look at Arlon. "Pfft, hey Arlon can you believe what Viridi was hiding from us? This whole time? I mean I've worked myself to the bone for this place for years and like, you have too! Its wild that Viridi would hide this from us! Don't you think?"

"I have known the entire time, Miss Phosphora."

"Yeah. Of course you did."

* * *

**-lets have some fun and work together!-**

It turned out, that the slide with Pit's drawing was actually the last slide in the slideshow. "The reason I asked Palutena for Pit's dumb drawing was because, unfortunately that's the best visual representation we got of em'." Viridi shook her head, "The little pests have been avoiding us for years and cause of that no ones ever gotten a good look at one."

Pit sat up a little straighter, clearly proud that he was one of the chosen few that got to see a rare fairy. Dark pit scoffed at him and raised his hand to ask an obvious question.

"Yeah Pittoo?"

"Hey, so yeah, if no ones ever seen a fairy then explain the Fairy Orbitars."

Pit slouched back into his seat. His dreams crushed.

This time Palutena stepped up to answer Dark Pit's question, casually waving off his concern. "Oh that! Well, Dyntos is all knowing so of course _he_ knows what fairies look like" she sneered, "Even if we asked what they looked like he would just laugh us off and tell us to find out ourselves."

"It sounds like you didn't bother to ask."

"We wouldn't have gotten an answer, Pittoo."

"How do you know that!?"

"I...Hmm."

Dark Pit rolled his eyes, figures that neither Viridi or Palutena bothered to do the simplest of things and just ask what fairies looked like. How hard was it to ask another God anyway? Sure, they started wars and stupid conflicts all the time but its not like a simple question would cause a God to start a war against Skyworld.

Honestly, Gods were just insufferable sometimes.

"Right. While Palutena thinks about that, let the better Goddess explain the dangers here!" Viridi ignored Pit's small 'Hey!' and continued. "Like I said, you three are going down to the forest floor to investigate. What exactly you're investigating is also as I've said, recent human activity in the forest."

Viridi looked to her audience to make sure they were all still on board. Luckily for her every question that could be asked had been asked and aside from Dark Pit's bored look, it was all going good. For now.

"Phew...Okay, this'll be a lot of information so pay attention. Pit."

"Hey!"

"I've had my eye on this stinkin' forest for a while now and I'm pretty sure its some fairy's tricks that are luring humans into the forest. Not only that, I know that its the fairies who are responsible for this weird barrier too. So, after tons of deliberation I've decided that the only way to really find out what's going on is to send you three!" Viridi stopped herself to look at Pit, "Well, originally it was 'you two' but things change I suppose!"

Pit laughed nervously and looked down at the ground, embarrassed. The entire plan having to be changed because he pushed himself into it was kindaaaaa...Embarrassing. But all he wanted to do was make sure Pittoo didn't feel lonely or bad about going! Pittoo even agreed to it!

"Hey Pit! I didn't say anything about you so stop looking like I'm about to clip your wings off! Geez." there was no time to be subtle about this. Viridi would deal with Palutena's death glare later.

"Oh! Uh-sorry..."

"As I was saying. You three are gonna be dealing with fairies down there. Something that no one has ever seen before, so you guys might not even see anything the entire time you're down there. Just in case you do though, I've gathered some legends humans have told about them to give you an advantage over them."

An entire afternoon of reading children's fairy tales would hopefully not be in vain.

Viridi snapped her fingers and suddenly a large book appeared in her hands. "Okay. It says here that fairies aren't very good fighters, so you got that going for you. On the other hand they're very good tricksters, both visually and speak...ally."

"What does that mean?" Phosphora asked. If she was going to be down there by herself watching over two Angels, she wanted to know everything she could about her enemies.

"That means that the fairies are going to try and trick you. With illusions, lies, maybe even both. They don't have anything else going for them so they're going to try and defeat you in the worst ways possible, having you defeat yourself. Or at least that's what the book says."

Both Angels nervously glanced at one another. They'd both experienced more illusions than they ever cared to see back in the Vortex of Chaos and neither of them were huge fans of being messed with like that. Pit tried to push the memory of being starred at by dozens of disembodied eyes out of his mind. It wasn't like fairies were as powerful as the Chaos Kin right? That wouldn't make much sense...

"-buuut if you ask me, you three have nothing to worry about! Its not like they can trick three people at once, right? What's a fairy going to do to you? Make Pit hallucinate that a rock is a burger so he tries to eat it?"

"H-Hey...!"

Palutena cleared her throat, "Either way I think its important to be careful. We don't know what's down there, so you three need to be on your guard. We all want you to come back safe and sound okay?" Palutena's assurance did little to calm Phosphora and Dark Pit, but it meant the world to Pit. As soon as Viridi saw the sparkles of hope in Pit's eyes she knew she had to act fast to not lose to her.

Viridi pointed at her members of the Forces of Nature, and Dark Pit. "I-I agree! Its important that you stick together! Got it!" from the back of the room Arlon gave her a thumbs up for her good recovery.

"Got it?" Dark Pit said confused about how he was supposed to answer.

Phosphora closed her eyes and smiled. "You got it Mistress Viridi." The mission sounded dangerous but hopefully is it really wouldn't be any different than a regular scouting mission.

"Don't worry Lady Palutena and Viridi!" Pit sprang up from his chair and proudly stood on top of it, spreading his wings out. "Team Electric Angels! And Phosphora! Is on the case!" Pit even made sure to strike a cool pose while saying it. A pose worthy of a cool team like them!

Phosphora was taken by surprise at first, but quickly laughed it off. She flew just behind of Pit and struck a similar pose. "You know, that's a pretty good team name! Color me surprised." their eyes fell on Dark Pit, waiting for him to join in on the fun. He groaned and decided to give in. If he didn't, Pit would decide to be peppy enough for the both of them. And gods knows Dark Pit couldn't put with that. And neither would Phosphora. She could thank him later.

"Go team." Dark Pit said while putting up a weak peace sign. Pit and Phosphora let out a cheer. Pit nearly fell off the chair while cheering, thankfully he was caught by a quick acting Palutena.

"We don't really need a team name." Dark Pit said, sighing loudly.

* * *

**-team electric angels (remix feat. the REDACTED twins)-**

While Palutena and Viridi discussed their plan on how '_Team Electric Angels. And Phosphora'_ was going to explore the forest, the members of said team were told to wait around until they were given the order to gather at Viridi's throne room.

The three of them decided to _'wait around'_ on a nearby balcony.

It was Phosphora's idea to wait somewhere close to the throne room. Just in case the Goddesses made up their minds faster than they thought they would. After that, Dark Pit decided he wanted to wait somewhere outside in the fresh air. The solution, that Pit ingeniously came up, was that they could all wait somewhere close that was outside!

"So is there somewhere outside that's also close by?" The layout of Viridi's temple fortress thing was still a big mystery to Pit and he was still very reliant on others to get around.

Phosphora and Dark Pit looked at each other and sighed. "Don't act like a know it all if you don't even know which way you're going!" something at the back of Dark Pit's head humored the idea that Pit secretly wanted to act like Palutena. A big show-offy know it all. The difference being that Palutena actually did know a lot. While Pit, did not.

Pit laughed nervously and his eyes darted to the floor. "I guess you're right..."

After a many turns and twists (about three of them) that Pit could not remember the order of even if he tried, the group reached a balcony that overlooked the entrance of the forest. From there they could see the nearby human village. "Are the humans that are coming into the forest from over there?" Pit pointed to the village, leaning over the balcony but not too much that he risked falling off.

Phosphora nodded, confirming Pit's theory. "That's them alright. You would think that the grandmas and grandpas over there would warn people about this place but go figure." it wasn't like the forest being cursed was a new thing. The humans really should know better by now.

While Phosphora and Pit enjoyed the view from above, Dark Pit hung out by the entrance of the balcony. He hadn't been lying when he said he wanted some fresh air, but he mostly wanted it to clear his head of any doubts that were clouding his mind.

The plan so far was going perfectly. The Dark Pit staff was in his room, Pit arrived ready to participate in the mission, and by some form of divine blessing Pit seemed to have forgotten to bring a weapon with him before he left. The stars were all aligned in Dark Pit's favor for once But, then why...

Why did it feel like something was going to turn out wrong?

"Hey Pittoo? Are you okay? You look sick."

Dark pit looked up from staring at the floor and meet the concerned looks of Pit and Phosphora. "Yeah. I'm fine" he lied.

Phosphora groaned, "Don't bother with him he's been like this ALL week!" since the start of the week Phosphora could remember seeing Pittoo wear a grumpy look on his face, and when Arlon tried to ask him if he was alright during breakfast he got a honey bun to the face. "He's been so aggro Viridi actually sent him to his room to cool off! As you can see-" Phosphora gestured towards the angry Angel in question as his glare on her only intensified, "-it didn't work"

"Pittoo? Is there something wrong? You can tell me! A-And if its a secret I promise not to tell Lady Palutena!" Pit stepped reached out his hand and stepped closer to his brother. Almost on instinct Dark Pit stepped back. As a response Pit gasped and stepped back too, bringing his arms close to himself, almost as if he hadn't tried to reach out at all.

Phosphora's gaze shifted from one Angel to the other. There was something happening here, and it was clear that she didn't have a part to play in it. At least not yet. "Okay. This looks like some sort of weird Angel twin thing you need to resolve on your own, so if you kiddos need me I'll be-uh back there." she pointed to the hallway they just came from before slowly sliding out and making a graceful exit.

Truthfully she wouldn't be flying very far, just far enough to where the Angels couldn't see her but close enough that she could still hear them. Just in case she needed to step in._ 'If I knew being friends with these two would be this much work, I would have tried harder to kill Pit when I had the chance.'_ she joked with herself.

Back on the balcony a heavy silence hung over the twins.

Dark pit knew he wouldn't be the first to talk. It was predictable that Pit would be the first to speak up and break the silence. "If there's something bothering you, you can tell me you know that. Just like last time!"

The "last time" Pit was referring to was during his first _'official'_ visit to the Fortress of Nature. And that chapter is a very long chapter so let us let Pit sum it up here in thirty words or less. "Remember? When I helped you make friends with everyone! Then I helped everyone make friends with you! Now you're not lonely!"

"Making a lot of assumptions there, Pitstain."

"Like what?" Pit really hoped that Pittoo wouldn't be able to tell he didn't know what the word 'assumptions' was.

"Like it all being you! I was there too you know! Or does it make you feel better about yourself if you take all the credit?"

"That's not what I-!" Pit gasped and stepped back, he held his arms close to his chest, "I...I'm sorry Pittoo. I shouldn't have said it like that. You're the one who talked with everyone about it. I was just there by chance, wasnt I?"

"Just like today."

"Huh?"

Pit asked his brother to explain what he said, but Dark Pit's mind was focused on something else.

Chances like today were a one in a million chance. Who knows when the next time he would have an opportunity like this? If he didn't act now, today, he would probably never have another chance to find out what that stupid idol was talking about.

"I gotta go."

"Huh?! Pittoo!" before Pit could say anything or think about any way to stop his twin from running, Pittoo was already long gone. Already disappearing down one of the many twisted hallways of Viridi's fortress.

* * *

**-a light detour-**

"Hey! What the heck?!"

"Phosphora?!"

From behind the entrance of the hallway Phosphora slid back into relevancy, "What's the deal with him running off like that mid-conversation?!" Phosphora turned back to face the left behind twin, her face was twisted into an angry pout. "How could you just let him ditch us like that?!"

"I-"

"Ugh...And here I thought you guys were making some great progress. But what should I have expected from and and doom and Young master naive and oblivious! Together you two are a recipe for disaster!"

"Um-"

"I know they say siblings are supposed to fight but you two really need to find a better time because doing it just before a mission where we're supposed to work together really isn't good timing!"

"Phosphora!"

"What?!"

Pit let out a heavy sigh mixed with a groan. Today was supposed to be an amazing day, he'd even drawn out exactly how it would go in his journal the day before he left. All three of them were going to work together on a mission, have fun, make some references here and there and then come back and eat the most delicious dinner ever. Pit never planned on making a mistake and getting his brother mad at him. He would never plan that on purpose, but now he was thinking he should have. "I'm really dumb, aren't I?"

Phosphora never wanted to be somewhere else more than right now.

"I mean...You're not really _dumb_ dumb. More like inexperienced!"

"In what?"

"Talking to people! I mean before you meet us who did you usually talk to?"

"Hey! I talked to a lot of people!" Pit crossed his arms and pouted, "Like Lady Palutena! And when she was busy I talked with the Centurions! There are a lot of Centurions in Skyworld you know!" Pit said with a smile on his face.

...Then again. Pit's smile wavered, before the War on Medusa 2: now with more war, he usually spent a lot of time talking to himself and only himself. B-But that was only because Lady Palutena was so busy helping the Centurions rebuild Skyworld! But there was no reason to tell Phosphora that.

"You were almost as lonely as him."

"What was that?"

"Oh! Nothing~!" Pit wanting for Pittoo to make friends with the people who lived with him made a lot more sense now, "You just helped me figure something out. So why don't I go get Pittoo so you can get in some more practice? Kay'?" Pit instantly perked up. This was his chance to talk with Pittoo again! This time he was going to make sure to not mess up! "W-Wait! Let me go with you! I can-**Woah!**" Phosphora easily picked up Pit with both her hands and held him up in the air.

"Wow! I was right! You guys are light!"

"Phoooosphora put me down!" Pit whined, besides being horribly embarrassed, Phosphora's electricity was spreading all over his body causing an annoying tingling sensation.

Instead of putting him down Phosphora laughed and carried him back into the hallway, stopping short of a set of three tunnels. "Well, since you asked so nicely." she set him down on a large rock that decorated the empty hallway.

Pit's hair was still standing up on its ends and his feathers were ruffled, but he was glad to be on solid ground. For once. "What was that for?!" Pit said while trying to straighten out his hair. Lady Palutena worked so hard to brush it last night and here Phosphora was ruining all of her hard work!

"I'm just leaving you somewhere I can find you when I get back! Your orders for today are-To keep your butt planted right there!" there was no doubt in Phosphora's mind that Pit would somehow find a way to get himself into trouble, but hopefully a strict order would enough to keep him in one place.

Pit shot Phosphora a skeptical look while he straightened a few bent feathers on his wing, "Why not just leave me on the balcony?"

"B-Because then, uh-Because this is closer to where I'm going!"

"Mmhmm." Pit wasn't convinced.

Pit's skepticism on Phosphora's plan aside, he decided that it would be better and less painful to listen to her and stay put. No matter how much he didn't want to. "Fine." Pit swung on leg over the other and made himself comfortable on the rock he knew he would be sitting on for a while.

"I knew you'd come around. Now just stay put and I'll have Pittoo back here before you know it. Then I bet you guys'll be cracking jokes just like old times!" Phosphora shot a finger gun to the bewildered angel, a few sparks dropping from her finger.

A few seconds later Phosphora was flying down the hallway Pittoo ran into just a few minutes ago.

Pit instantly forgot which way she went after she was out of sight.

* * *

**-second thought-**

Dark Pit was back in the same position, and the same room, he found himself in earlier that day. He was still stuck wondering whether it was safe or not to find out exactly what strange powers his signature Staff might hold.

This particular train of thought was really starting to get old by now

"I'm sick of thinking of this!" Dark Pit yelled out loud to no one in particular. It was just himself and the various weapons that hung on his walls. Along with the friendly growth chart in the shape of a giraffe that Viridi tacked by his door.

Dark Pit sighed, sitting down on his bed besides his Staff. Not only did he feel terrible about potentially hurting Pit, he also felt terrible for storming off without explaining himself. Don't get him wrong, he was a more than a _little_ upset at Pit deciding that he alone was responsible for getting Dark Pit to socialize with the rest of the Forces of Nature but at the same time...

He was sorta right. In a way. A little.

If someone, that someone being Pit, hadn't decided to drag Dark Pit outside that day to talk to other people Dark Pit doubted that he would have decided to do it on his own. Not at the rate he was going. However, he was never going actually ADMIT that Pit helped him, he would sooner die than do that.

Even then, Pit was only responsible for pushing him outside. It was Dark Pit that did all the hard work and talked to people! And...And he didn't need any help for it! He could handle it on his own!

With more newfound determination, Dark Pit decided to set out and prove that he could handle things on his own! Sure, he might not have been the person who started the mission today but he was going to end it! Which was not at **_all_ **what he started the day thinking of doing but that's just how the day decided to roll, for the sake of plot progression. And because he was an unfocused thirteen-year-old Angel.

Dark Pit stood up from his bed, but before he took a single step, he looked back at the Dark Pit staff. Wondering for just one more second whether to hand it over to Pit or not.

'_...Am I going to hurt Pit more...?'_

It didn't take long for him to make up his mind this time.

"Nah."

Dark Pit grabbed his trusty Electroshock Arm from the wall and took off running back to the balcony where he ditched his brother and Phosphora. There was only one thought running through his head.

_'I don't need his help or hers!' _

He would show them. Whatever it took, even if he needed to sneak out.

* * *

**-pit wanders off-**

"I hope Phosphora didn't ditch me..."

Pit swung his legs back and forth, still sitting on the same rock that Phosphora left him waiting on. He didn't want to risk the chance of getting lost in Viridi's fortress and then having to delay the mission in favor of finding him.

So, even though he was bored out of his mind the smart thing to do was to wait.

"But I'm _soooo_ bored!"

Surely wandering close to where he was told to wait wouldn't hurt, right?

Pit looked to the left and right of the hallway he was sitting in. There wasn't a lot in the hallway that stood out to him as familiar. It looked like pretty much every hallway he'd seen in while walking around Viridi's fortress. "I wish Pittoo was here. He'd know somewhere cool to go." Pit was sure Pittoo knew his way around by now, with how much time he'd spent here. But Pit? No way.

Sure, Pit spent almost a whole month in Viridi's fortress during the Chaos Kin incident. But those weeks were all a blur of watery eyes, absolute rage, and growing anxiety over the future.

Viridi's fortress was so foreign to Pit that the last time he'd been here during Centurion training day might as well have been his first time here.

Pit anxiously flapped his wings. He wanted to move. He couldn't stand sitting around any longer.

"I'm sure they won't mind if I explore just a little bit." he pushed himself off the rock and onto his feet, "Besides I've got my laurel crown on! If they need to find me they can just use that!"

With all his worries taken care of, Pit happily skipped down the hallway to find the nearest interesting thing to look at.

* * *

**-you got what you wanted, but you lost what you had-**

After the fourth weirdly shaped rock Pit stopped to look at, he was wondering if maybe his first suspicion was the right one. Maybe Pittoo and Phosphora did decide to ditch him back there. "They would never!" Pit argued with himself, "I would know if they did!" There was really no real way for Pit to be sure that he hadn't been left behind, but his gut was telling him he was right and that was all he needed. Besides, Viridi promised he could go and she would never waste an opportunity to order him around.

"Any minute now they'll start yelling at me for moving from my spot." Pit wasn't looking forward to a scolding from either Pittoo or Phosphora, but that was a sign that he'd have something exciting to do. Staring at rocks and dirt while imagining shapes in them could only keep him entertained for so many minutes.

"Ha ha, she'll probably say something like-Pit where did you go?! We told you to wait right there!" Pit yelled at himself, his arms were placed behind his head, trying to look as cool and carefree as possible.

"-And then Pittoo will say..." Pit ran to the left and made his voice go the deepest he could. Which made for a very good imitation of his twin. So good, that anyone walking by might have thought it to be Dark Pit himself. "-I told you we shouldn't have left him by himself, but did you listen to me?"

Then Pit ran back to his right. "AND THEN-! Viridi will say-huh?" before Pit could show off his _masterful and scarily accurate after years of practice_ impression of Viridi, something caught his attention.

In front of him was a slightly opened door. It looked vaguely familiar.

Pit looked around for any hints to tell him where he was and why he felt like he'd been here before, but there was nothing. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to go in." Pit easily convinced himself to take a quick peek, especially since it didn't look like the mission would be starting anytime soon. He was happy to kill time anyway he could.

Pit lightly touched the ajar door expecting to be caught by any of Viridi's troops any second. To his surprise, no one came. Instead the door opened revealing an all too familiar room inside.

"Pittoo's room!" That's why this hallway looked familiar!

It was the very same hallway he was kicked into after accidentally kicking one of Pittoo's weapons off the walls while he slept.

"After I said I was sorry and everything."

There was no hesitation on Pit's decision to enter his twin's room. He figured that if no one could find him, not even with Viridi's or Lady Palutena's help, Pittoo's room would be the second place everyone would look. It also helped that Pittoo's room was full of plenty of things to keep Pit entertained for the next hour or so.

The first thing Pit did upon entering said room was take a seat on his twin's _'Has no right as being comfy as it is!'_ bed. "Man, whoever Pittoo took these blankets from has good taste!" he took the dark blanket and threw it over himself. There was no real reason he needed to do that, its not like it was cold or anything. Pit just wanted to do it and he did it. Did he want to see how comfy being in the blanket was? Maybe?

Pit's happiness of being covered in a comfy blanket was suddenly cut short by a loud THUMP right behind him.

Pit immediately wrapped himself up in Pittoo's blanket, in a sad attempt to hide himself from whoever caught him sneaking into his twin's room red-handed. "Ahh! I didn't mean to sneak in! I mean-I don't know where I am! Who's Pit?!" his lame excuses aside, Pit noticed a distinct lack of yelling at him so it was safe to say that he hadn't been caught. Yet.

So then, what was that strange sound?

With his hands still gripping onto the blanket he turned around to something far worse than being caught by Pittoo.

It was Dark Pit's Dark Pit Staff. Lying on the ground. And Pit knew that he was the only reason it was on the floor.

"Oh no! Nonono!" in a panic, Pit threw the blanket off himself and knelt down to get a closer look at Pittoo's treasured weapon. He prayed to anyone that would listen that the Staff didn't break in the fall. It was hard to check without touching it, but Pit made a promise to never touch Pittoo's things and he swore to himself he would keep that promise until the day he died.

For obvious reasons.

After looking over the Staff during the longest seconds of Pit's life, he exhaled a sigh of relief. It looked like the Staff was perfectly fine. At least, it looked fine to him. Pit knew Pittoo cared about the quality of his weapons than he did, so Pit hoped that his brother wouldn't find something that he missed.

Now all he had to do was figure out a good enough lie to explain why the Staff was on the floor instead of wherever Pittoo left it. "Maybe I can say there was an earthquake...?" before Pit could figure out how he was going to explain how an earthquake could happen without anyone else noticing, a familiar voice spoke right into his head.

"HEY! Me and Palutena got everything set up, so you know what that means!"

"That the mission is called off and we can go nap?" Pit heard Phosphora say. He could practically see her leaning back and relaxing, both of her arms behind her head.

"Ahaha...NO!" Pit instinctively covered his ears. Not that it helped. "Now all three of you report back here! You don't want to keep us waiting, do you?" and with that last order the telepathic connection was cut, leaving Pit all alone again.

All alone and all a-lost again.

Pit nervously walked out of the room and back to the hallway, looking for any signs of Pittoo or Phosphora or _anybody_ to help him get back to Viridi's throne room. "I'm...I'm sure I can find my way back. How hard could it be?"

The endless tunnels of Viridi's fortress were looking a lot more daunting all of a sudden. He sighed, if only Lady Palutena were here, she would know what to do.

A candle went off in Pit's head. "Lady Palutena!"

Then like clockwork, Palutena answered Pit's plea. "Yes Pit? Is there something wrong?"

Pit held his hands together in relief, he wanted to thank Lady Palutena over and over for answering but that would probably have to wait for after the mission. "Lady Palutena I'm uh-kinda lost. Can you help me back to where you guys are?" Pit's nervously scratched the back of his head. After years of working with her he knew Lady Palutena could see him no matter where he was, so hopefully she knew where in the fortress Pit was.

Pit heard Palutena giggle and his face grew even redder than it already was. "Lady Paluten_aaaaa_! Viridi's place is really big! I didn't mean to-"

"I'm sorry! It's only a little funny I promise" she reassured him. Though given the fact she was still giggling, albeit a lot quieter now, it was more than a little funny.

Pit pouted and looked away from no one in particular.

"Now, now. Don't be like that. Here-" Palutena, very secretly, waved her staff and summoned a couple of familiar green arrows for Pit to use to find his way back to her. "-these should help! Just follow them and you'll be back here in no time."

Pit stared in awe as the green arrows materialized right in front of him. Pointing the exact opposite way where he thought about heading just before calling out to Lady Palutena. He was so glad she always had his back, and he would always have hers! And he would also always have Pittoo's and Viridi's a-and Phosphora's and-

"Pit." Palutena could sense Pit's jumble of thoughts and decided to interrupt before he forgot all about the mission entirely.

"Huh...? Oh, right! I'll be right there!" he bowed, knowing that she could still see him, "Thank you Lady Palutena! You're the best!"

"I try. I'll see you here, okay?"

Oddly, Pit sensed Palutena cutting their connection. "She's probably talking to Viridi or something" Pit made another mental note to thank Lady Palutena for not telling Viridi he was lost. If Palutena did, Viridi would be laughing at him from now until the end of the day.

"Well, I better not keep the others waiting!"

Pit took a single step towards the green arrowed lit tunnel, before he stopped.

He looked behind him at the opened door to Pittoo's room. The evidence that he'd been in there _and_ knocked Pittoo's Dark Pit Staff to the ground was still in there and if he wasn't there to defend himself Pittoo would assume the worst once he came to pick up his weapon.

unless...

"Unless! I take it to him!" Pit ran back into his twin's room with a brand new plan in mind.

He would take Pittoo's most prized weapon, hide it behind his back and just when his brother would ask for a few extra minutes to grab his weapon, which would no doubt earn him an earful from Viridi-**WHAM** Pit would present him with the Dark Pit Staff he generously brought back with him.

Then Pittoo would thank him and hug him and _also_ say that he was the best brother ever! _**Then**_ they would both get another video game to star in. It was the perfect plan.

"I'm sure Pittoo won't mind!" Pit lied to himself. He knew not-so-deep down that Pittoo _would_ mind. He would mind a great deal. "Buuuut Pittoo will probably mind not having his weapon even more!" it was his favorite after all, a fact that I'm sure that everyone and everything knows by now. At least I hope they do

With no hesitation left in him, Pit grabbed the Dark Pit Staff by the handle.

As soon as he did, a Pit felt a strange haze wash over him, "Auuh...?" On instinct he cried out to Lady Palutena for help. Something else in his head yelled at him for doing that. Still holding on to the Staff, Pit stumbled and violently gripped his head with his free hand. "Wha-what?"

Why did it feel like there was someone else talking besides _him_?

Pit's first thought was that Pittoo had someone set a trap on his staff to confuse anyone who held it besides him. Of course, he would do something that smart!

Pit's next thought wasn't his own.

_'I don't need his help or her's!'_

Pit stared blankly ahead, intently listening to the strange echo in his head. "I...don't need his help or her's." he repeated, almost robotically.

His hand tightened around the handle of the Dark Pit Staff. Pit blinked rapidly, almost as if he were getting used to the lighting in the room. "I don't need his help or her's!" he said smiling, he never felt so sure about anything than he did right now! Pit had to do this, he was going to show them all!

Without any hesitation, Pit turned on his heels and took off running out of _his_ room.

Pit ran off to the nearest exit of the Fortress of Nature. He ignored the flashing green arrows because this time, he knew exactly where to go. He wasn't even sure what they were doing there in the first place.

Pit turned the right direction at every turn until he reached an open balcony.

The wind was blowing right at him and he impulsively spread his wings. It was a futile effort, he knew he wasn't capable of going anywhere by himself. At least not yet. Pit walked over to the new railings Viridi placed on the balconies. Leaning on the railing, Pit looked down to see the same familiar forest he saw every morning.

_'I wish Viridi would at least add a little more variety-'_

"-staring at a bunch of trees is so boring!"

Though looking at the forest was boring enough to make him go back to sleep Pit scanned the forest as far as he could.

He knew the mission for today was to take care of a bunch of a troublemakers in the forest, but for some reason Viridi thought he needed help to handle a couple of fairies. If they were anything like the Fairy Orbitars taking care of them would be as easy as fighting a simple Mik.

_'I can handle it-'_

Pit held onto the Dark Pit staff even as he climbed over the balcony's railing.

"-all by myself!

Then Pit jumped.

* * *

**-pittoo wanders in-**

As Phosphora turned the last corner on her way to Dark Pit's room, she could have sworn she heard someone's voice down one of the connecting hallways. _'Don't tell me I took the long way..._' Phosphora always made sure to spend as little time she could in one place. It just wasn't her style. As a result, her knowledge on the layout of Viridi's fortress was a little more muddy than the usual member of the Forces of Nature, Pittoo aside.

"Outta the way!" there was the familiar voice again, and before Phosphora could even think about who's voice it could be she found herself knocked down to the ground.

"Watch where you're going..." Phosphora got herself off the ground and was back into the air in just seconds. She was more than ready to give whoever bumped into her the biggest shock of their life.

"I told you to get out of the way..."

Phosphora looked down to see exactly who bumped into her, "Pittoo." Of course, who else could it have been?

The Angel was sitting on the ground, rubbing his head with his free hand, an Electroshock Arm on the other. Phosphora figured that bumping into her also caused him to fall backwards too. If that _was_ the case, she hoped that maybe it would teach him a lesson about running down the halls.

"You need any help?" Phosphora held out a hand to help him up, "Don't worry, I won't shock you or anything."

Dark Pit stared at her hand, then back up at her with a snarl, "I don't need any of **your** help." He began the arduous task of pushing himself up, using his Electroshock Arm as support. "I can handle myself."

"Clearly." Phosphora pulled her hand back and watched as Dark Pit firmly held his ground.

After lightly dusting himself off, as best he could with his one free arm, Dark Pit turned back to Phosphora. "What are you doing here anyway? Did Viridi come order you to get me?" his tone of voice was mocking, as if he'd forgotten he was under Viridi's orders as well.

"No, not yet." Phosphora didn't think it would be worth it to get riled up from Dark Pit's childish teasing,"I only came after you to see if you were okay."

"...Why would you do that?"

"B-Because I was worried?"

"Why would you do _that_?! Like I said, I can take care of myself!"

Phosphora paused to think. "Is this...Is this like a new phase or something? Because if that's the case I'm gonna go ahead and tell Viridi I'm taking one of my vacation days today." the last thing Phosphora wanted to ever deal with was an egotistical teenager that bit off more than they could chew. She already had more than her share of dealing with one.

Dark Pit huffed and stomped past her. Literally stomped. The more noise he made the better. For added affect he also slammed the Electroshock Arm against the wall. That would show her.

She sighed, "Are you really taking that weapon with you of all things? You're just going to be a walking lightning rod" Though Phosphora could easily direct her lightning away from him, it would be a major hassle. It was just another little thing to annoy her and Pittoo more than likely knew it. "Here I actually thought you were at least a little smarter than Pit."

Dark Pit was halfway through his fourth stomp when he stopped, right after hearing Phosphora.

"You run out of steam there?"

"Where's Pit?"

"Pit? I left him waiting on a rock. We can go back and meet him there if you want."

Dark Pit swore he felt his heart stop. "You left him there..._by himself?!_" the Electroshock Arm crackled with electricity. Phosphora didn't feel threatened in the slightest.

"Uh, yeah? Its easier to find him if he's in one place, right?"

"And you expect him to actually stay there?!"

"Huh-?!"

Before Phosphora could ask Dark Pit to elaborate on what he just said, Palutena's panicked filled voice suddenly rang into their heads. "Pittoo! Phosphora! Please come back to the throne room! Its an emergency! You have to hurry! There's no time please hurry!"

Despite Palutena's repeated insistence that they hurry both Dark Pit and Phosphora stood still and confused. They looked at one another, hoping that the other would have the answer to why Palutena suddenly sounded like this mission was now a matter of life and death. Especially with her still telepathically screaming at them to hurry to the throne room, her words were starting to become just a string of 'Please hurry! Please hurry!' Whatever could have happened in the past hour to change the stakes of the mission must have been big.

Dark Pit's stomach sank, _'There's only one person here that could make Palutena freak out so badly.' _A quiet voice in the back of his mind added that there were actually two people here that would have that effect on Palutena, but by all accounts, he was fine.

"Oh-kay you've talked long enough!" Viridi cut in and finally put an end to Palutena's panicked rant. Yet despite that, both Phosphora and Dark Pit could still hear Palutena talking, just at a softer volume. Almost like she was muttering to herself"

"Even though Palutena is losing it, she's right. You two need to get back here and quick." Viridi continued, "We got a problem and its a doozy."

"Uh, how big of a _'doozy'_?" Phosphora asked, trying to laugh away her one fear. It was a stretch to say that the problem could be related to the other problem, but there was always the tiiiinest possibility it could have been the same...problem.

"Let's just say, its the size of one Pit. And that Pit happens to have jumped off the fortress and into the deadly and dangerous cursed forest we discussed earlier. So yeah. Its big."

Both Phosphora and Dark Pit never wanted to be somewhere else more than right now.

* * *

**-i kept forgetting to write in pittoos electroshock arm. opps.-**

Dark Pit and Phosphora were left alone waiting in the throne room while Viridi and Palutena discussed the plan to change their mission from reconnaissance to a rescue mission.

Phosphora anxiously kicked her legs in the air and played with her hair. Even though she made it a habit to tease Pit whenever possible she'd be lying if she said she wasn't' at least a little worried about his safety. Both Pit and Dark Pit practically became like the annoying little brothers she never asked for, but in the end after a couple of years they turned out to not be that bad. It actually kinda fun when they were around. Not that she would ever admit that to herself or anyone else, of course. "You better be okay out there dweeb."

On the other side of the room, the other half of her newly designated little brothers was pacing around, his Electroshock Arm tossed to the side as he bit his thumb. A million thoughts ran through Dark Pit's head.

_What happened to him?_

_Why did he jump into the cursed forest by himself?_

_**Was this his fault?**_

"You good?"

Phosphora's question was enough to snap Dark Pit out of his rush of thoughts. He stopped pacing to turn to look at her, a uncharacteristic concerned look was all over her face.

Since his first day of working for the Forces of Nature Phosphora had never seen Dark Pit looking this worried. It was sort of...worrying. And while her main concern was hoping that Pit was still alive, it would be heartless of her not to consider his twin as well. Especially considering the whole double sided coin-thing Dark Pit explained to them once.

"I'm fine. Just confused." Dark Pit answered. The answer wasn't the whole truth but it was enough of it that he hoped his bad lying skills wouldn't get him caught.

"You don't have to try and hide it you know."

Dark Pit crossed his arms and curled his wings into himself. Whatever Phosphora was going to tell him, he wasn't interested in hearing any of it.

Phosphora noticed Dark Pit's apprehension and slowly floated closer to him. She was just far enough away that her electricity wouldn't send shivers through his body, "You're worried. Its really easy to tell." Dark Pit had been living with the Forces of Nature long enough for Phosphora and even Viridi to clue in when he was under distress.

When something was worrying Dark Pit, his wings would nervously flap on their own. They would also walk around in circles, unable to keep still and occasionally talk to themselves. Jury was still out if Dark Pit also did impressions like Palutena told them Pit was prone to do.

"I'm not worried! I'm mad!" Dark Pit corrected Phosphora.

"Mad? At what?"

"A-At Pitstain! Duh! Why would he do something as stupid as go by himself?! -_'That was my idea!'- _He wasn't supposed to even _be_ here in the first place! Why is he so stupid?!"

"You wanted him to be here didn't you?" Phosphora recalled how oddly happy Dark Pit was on his return from another one of his visits to Palutena's temple. He didn't smile once but he did talk to her and Arlon all about how he and Pit played Idol Toss all day and even confided in them how Pit volunteered to go on next month's mission with him.

"I-?!"

Before Dark Pit could spit out another lie, Palutena and Viridi warped back into the room.

Palutena's eyes immediately darted to Dark Pit. As soon as their eyes meet Palutena turned away and instead looked down at the ground.

Viridi looked over to the Goddess of Light and scoffed. She just spent the better part of their plan making time convincing Palutena that she was worrying too much, and that Pit would be fine once Phosphora and Pittoo found him, and now here she was. Still worried.

All her hard work, for nothing.

"Okay. We talked it over and we both pretty much agreed that the best plan we've got is to send you two down there to find Pit."

"Mistress Viridi are you-"

"-Sure? I'm positive this is the only way. It looks like you two have a new mission." Viridi waved her staff and within seconds the doors to her throne room began glowing a familiar golden glow. Her magic surrounded the doors, turning them into a portal to the outside once they opened.

"Pittoo. Phosphora. Your mission for today is to head down to the cursed forest, find Pit, and bring him back here so I can give him a piece of my mind! Got it?"

"Got it!"

Dark Pit silently nodded.

Deciding she was done staring at the floor for long enough, Palutena stepped forward. To Viridi's surprise. "The plan is to search for Pit in the air." she looked to Dark Pit, his wings twitched in anticipation, "I'll provide the Power of Flight while you search, but only for five minutes. After that you'll both have to look on foot."

"I hope we don't have to remind you how dangerous the forest is. Remember to stay together and if you find Pit-"

"_Once_ you find Pit!" Palutena said, stomping her foot down. Dark Pit could have sworn he saw Viridi flinch in fear, but it was probably his imagination. "Once you find him...Phosphora you'll fly up and signal us to Pit and Pittoo's location so we can warp them back."

"R-Right...!" Phosphora expected Viridi to interrupt Palutena with another complaint that she had no business giving orders out to her troops, but it never came.

Viridi must have been really worried.

After quickly grabbing his Electroshock Arm from where he hastily placed it, Dark Pit meet up with Phosphora in front of the golden doors. "Alright! What are you waiting for?! Let's go people! Times a wastin'!" Viridi pointed at the set of doors as they opened on her command. "Operation: Rescue Pit, is a go!"

Outside the doors, the cursed forest awaited the pair. Whatever was in there stood no chance against the two of them. At least, that's what Viridi hoped.

Palutena hoped that Pit was strong enough to handle things on his own for now.

In no time at all, both Phosphora and Dark Pit jumped off after Pit.

* * *

**-electroswing-**

Phosphora took off quick as lightning, stopping herself mid-air to wait for Dark Pit to catch up to her. Looking down at the imposing forest below her did not do anything to help her worry about finding Pit. _'Ugh, since when were you this easily worried. Pit's fine. He has to be.'_ She reassured herself.

Pit defeated her once after defeating Thanatos twice! Someone that strong wouldn't be defeated from something as small as fairies or even an entire cursed forest. She would make sure of it.

"You've been spending too much time stuck with those two dorks."

* * *

**-and he's outta there!-**

Dark Pit saw Phosphora speed out in front of him while he fell straight down to the ground. He would have been jealous if there was any time to be jealous.

It didn't take long before the Power of Flight activated in his wings and his free fall came to an end. Now in the air Dark Pit took a few seconds to adjust the Electroshock Arm in his hand, making sure the fall didn't throw it off balance.

Palutena directed his flight towards where Phosphora was flying in the air, assumedly waiting for Dark Pit to catch up. It was moments like these Dark Pit _**really**_ missed flying on his own. Admittedly, he always missed it but sometimes it hurt more times than others.

Especially now, when he couldn't even fly on his own to find his missing brother.

Being led around like a puppet by its strings was not his style.

"Pittoo. Listen to me." Palutena's voice echoed in his head.

"I'm listening."

Palutena took in a sharp breath, it sounded like she was struggling to keep calm just like before. Even the Power of Flight itself felt a little unstable. "Pittoo...Dark Pit. Please be careful." Palutena pleaded, her voice shaking.

"Yeah. Sure." what else could Dark Pit answer with?

"Both you and Pit. Please come back to us safely."

* * *

**-5 minutes of air time-**

"Hey, you see anything Pittoo?"

"Trees."

"Guess I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

Dark Pit didn't mean his answer to be a joke. The only thing that he'd really seen so far was trees, and not much of anything else.

"Maybe if we're lucky Pit will come to us! I mean, he's smart. Sometimes" flashes of memories of Pit trying to solve the simple puzzles of the lightning temple ran through her mind. Sure, he only managed to solve the puzzle with Palutena's guidance but pushing three balls into three holes was more intelligence than she initially expected from him after what Viridi told her about him. "Who's to say he won't climb a tree to signal for help?"

Dark Pit ignored Phosphora, continuing to scan the land below him as Palutena led his flight pattern around the forest. At that point he lost count at how many times they circled the forest, and there was still no sign of Pit.

It was to be expected, Viridi and Palutena had said that the forest was dense and with the curse surrounding the forest it was a guarantee that no light entered into the forest, so of course no light would come out. And with no light there was no way they stood a chance of seeing Pit.

"Hey we'll find him, don't worry!"

Dark Pit looked up from looking down at the forest to his left, Phosphora was flying right beside him. She must have been able to tell that he was quickly losing hope in finding Pit from the skies. Either that or she read his mind, which considering how people communicated in this world, it wasn't that much of a stretch.

Phosphora sadly smiled and brought a finger up to her eyes, "You got a little something right here." It took a while for Dark Pit to understand what Phosphora was telling him, but once he did he gasped and quickly brought up his hand to his face.

Sure enough he could feel something wet on the side of his face.

In a panic he feverishly wiped away at his eyes. "I-I'm fine! Just worry about finding Pit! Leave me alone." Dark Pit could hear his voice was strained, he sounded like he was about to cry.

Which he couldn't. Doing _that_ wouldn't be helping anyone, especially not Pit.

"Like I said, we'll find him." Phosphora held out her hand to touch Dark Pit's shoulder. Even with minimal control of his actions Dark Pit pulled himself away from her.

In his head, he heard Palutena sigh.

* * *

**-is this a joke to you-**

_'41...42...53...'_

Time was running out and Dark Pit could only anxiously count the seconds until it he would no longer be able to search for Pit from the skies.

_'51...52...53.'_

The three-minute mark would soon pass and that meant the Power of Flight timer only had a minute left.

And Dark Pit was afraid to admit it, but there was almost no chance they would find Pit at the literal last second. He wasn't surprised to hear Palutena's voice four minutes and 20 seconds into his flight, "Pittoo, I hate to say it, but the Power of Flight is running out..."

"Just keep me in the air as long you can."

"Do you remember what I said to you right after you left?"

Dark Pit grit his teeth, "Not everything." That was a lie. Dark Pit remembered what Palutena told him perfectly. She wanted _**both**_ Angels back home safe and sound, and of course that meant that Palutena wanted Dark Pit to come home with both his wings unburnt. Neither he, nor Pit, would benefit from that at all if it happened. Even if Dark Pit miraculously spotted Pit while his wings were quickly burning off.

"I have to cut off the Power of Flight. I'm sorry Pittoo, but you're going to have to continue looking on foot."

That wasn't an option for him. Not when Pit's life was on the line.

"Its going to take forever to look on foot! Why can't Viridi just give me the Power of Flight after you?!"

"It doesn't work that way you dummy!" Viridi quickly refuted, "Your wings won't be able to take the surge of power! As soon as I activate it your wings will burst into flames!"

"Ah..."

"And because of the forest's power, neither I or Viridi will be able to reach you once you're inside."

"Which means no Power of Flight!" Viridi quickly added, "I guess we should be thankful it wasn't Phosphora who got lost, huh? At least with her here she can help pull you out if things get rough."

"Mistress Viridi, there is a time and place..." Dark Pit heard Arlon say. Viridi must have called him in back in because of the emergency, at least that's why Dark Pit guessed he was still here.

Viridi sighed and he heard her apologize to Arlon and Palutena under her breath. "Right, right. Anyway, the point is you're almost out of flying power so you're gonna have to land soon." Viridi paused, even without being able to see her Dark Pit could tell she was thinking over her next words. A little longer than the usual Viridi. "Uh-You do remember everything we went over about the forest, right? How we can't reach you even with telepathy, how its dangerous, don't trust anything in there. Etcetera..."

"Yeah. I do."

"So do I Mistress Viridi!" Phosphora chimed in without anyone asking to. Dark Pit blew out some hot air. Poor Phosphora couldn't handle not being the center of attention for one, could she?

"I know you do Phosphora. That's why I didn't ask."

Phosphora awkwardly smiled and laughed, "Ha ha...Yeah I knew that." Phosphora looked over to Dark Pit and immediately shook off her embarrassed smile. She knew if Dark Pit saw her like that, he would never let her live it down.

Though, now that she looked closely, he wasn't even looking at her. His eyes were glued down to the ground below them.

He was using the last of his flight time to look for his lost twin.

From catching him crying earlier to how guilty she felt for possibly causing all this mess, Phosphora felt she had to say something to cheer him up or at least give him some hope that they would find Pit safe and sound.

Unfortunately, the Forces of Nature and compassion went together like pineapples and pizza. They're a good combination, but it doesn't work for everyone all the time.

"Since you can't fly and searching through the air is our best bet...How about I carry you?" Phosphora asked. After all, searching through the air would be easier than the two of them being trapped in the forest with no outside help.

"Excuse me?"

Phosphora flew in front of Dark Pit and outstretched her arms. "See? If the Power of Flight runs out, I can just carry you. From what I've seen you guys are pretty light and that way we can keep searching in the air for Pit! What do you say?"

"I'd say you're crazy for thinking I would agree to something like that." Dark Pit couldn't help but be jealous at how casual Viridi and Phosphora seemed to be acting. Pit was missing in a cursed forest, after jumping off the temple of all things. He could be lost, injured, or even worse.

Dark Pit and Palutena were on a timer that neither Phosphora or Viridi seemed to care about.

"Dark Pit?" Palutena's voice rang through his head again, it sounded like she was struggling to speak to him.

"Y-Yeah?"

Palutena took in a breath and Dark Pit could feel his wings positioning themselves for a decent. He could see the forest getting closer and closer. From the corner of his eye he could see Phosphora right behind him. He didn't care about that, his focus was on finding Pit. Phosphora could follow if she wanted to. He would have preferred she stay behind though. How was she going to help him anyway?

"Prepare for land battle, Pittoo."

* * *

**-things go from bad to worse-**

The very second Dark Pit crossed the line of trees that separated the forest floor from the outside world, he understood why Palutena and Viridi were so insistent on staying together.

The forest was almost pitch black, save for the slivers of light that managed to break in through the small spaces between the trees. It gave the forest a slight purple glow to everything, whether that was just a trick of the light or a result of the magic in the air wasn't clear.

Even more unnerving than the lack of light was just how lifeless the forest felt.

There was no wind, no sounds, no signs of life. There was nothing. It was as if the forest itself was deserted, which according to both Goddesses it was far from that. There was no time for Dark Pit to wonder if they lied to all three of them about the monsters or fairies as some kind of sick joke, because Pit was still out there wandering the forest alone.

At least Dark Pit hoped he still was, because if he wasn't then...

Even thinking of the alternative made him sick to his stomach. Dark Pit shook his head, there was no time for that. "Pit!" he yelled out, hoping that somehow his twin would hear him.

To his shock his voice didn't even echo. Somehow his voice started and stopped where he stood.

Dark Pit felt everything close in at once. This forest wasn't normal, it wasn't safe, and it was not anything he ever dealt with before. He felt he very much underestimated the danger of this place and what might be lurking inside.

The worst part was that somehow, he could feel Pit come to the same realization.

* * *

**-calming down a worried sick mother-**

Viridi kept her eyes glued on the waterfall that, up until a few moments ago, reflected what Phosphora and Dark Pit were up to. Now it was just a mess of static and muffled noises. "I guess the forest is doing its job." she leaned back on her throne and silently hoped that any second now Phosphora would fly up over the trees with both Pit and Dark Pit in her arms.

Despite what she constantly told others and herself, she really did care for both Angels.

"Ugh, I wish there was a way to turn this stupid noise down." in an effort to distract herself, Viridi turned her attention to another cause of her headache that just so happened to be in the same room as her.

Near the entrance of her throne room Palutena was pacing back and forth, she anxiously bit her thumb to the point where Viridi was worried she might bite it off completely. Even from where Viridi was siting she could hear Palutena muttering to herself.

Palutena criticized herself out loud for not keeping an eye on Pit when she knew just how easy it was for him to get into trouble. She also whispered something about Dark Pit, but Viridi couldn't quite hear her.

It was obvious she was worried.

"Why not say something to calm her nerves, Mistress Viridi?"

"Wahh!" Viridi screamed and practically jumped from her chair in shock, just barely managing to stay put by holding on to her staff.

She whipped her head around to find Arlon standing close to her. "You're still here?!" Viridi could have sworn she told Arlon he was free to go back to the Lunar Sanctum. He must have stayed behind because he was worried, or something.

Viridi quickly looked over her shoulder to see if Palutena noticed her little scare, but the Goddess of Light looked to be still drowning in her own worries.

"Mistress Viridi, I'm terribly sorry. I had no intention of surprising you." Arlon took a bow, "I was merely attempting to give you some advice."

"What makes you think I need any advice?"

"Because it seems our dear Lady Palutena is currently burning through the floor."

"Huh?!"

Viridi quickly turned back around and true to Arlon's word Palutena had stopped pacing. Now she was standing in one place and glowing so bright that the ground around her was slowly catching on fire. If left unchecked Palutena would likely burn through the floor and Viridi's entire house. Which, to be fair, was protected against regular fire but not Goddess powered fire.

"Palutena stop!"

Palutena did not in fact, stop, but continued to glow brighter with every passing second. She was glowing so bright that Viridi couldn't look straight at her. "Palutena I asked you to stop!" yelling at Palutena was the best thing Viridi could think to do at this point. She didn't dare get any closer to the Goddess, lest she risk the chance of catching fire herself.

"It is as I said, Mistress Viridi." Viridi's attention turned back to her helpful butler, "I believe the smart move right now is to find a way to calm our dear Lady Palutena down. After all, this is a rather stressful time for her."

"I think she's being a baby about it-"

"Mistress Viridi."

"But, fine! I was gonna say _fine_!" Viridi huffed in frustration before turning back to try and face the Goddess of Light.

Palutena was brightly glowing, still biting her thumb and staring wide eyed at the floor. Viridi took in a deep breath before pausing, trying to think over what she should say.

Then all her planning went out the window when Palutena noticed her.

"Viridi?"

Viridi froze in place. She hadn't expected Palutena herself to start the conversation. Even worse she still had not thought of anything to say. Only getting so far as_ 'Please stop burning through my floor. Your weird Angels are going to be fine, weirdo.'_ and that wasn't nice at all! Even she was emotionally aware enough to know that.

"Hey Palutena? Just uh-wanted to know if you're doing okay?" Viridi gave herself a mental high five for not calling Palutena a crybaby.

Palutena didn't answer her question, instead choosing to think Viridi's question over.

Was she okay? No, not at all! She was worried and stuck thinking to herself why in the world Pit would do something as reckless and stupid as jump off by himself into the forest below. Yes it was true that Pit had a streak of last minute impulsive decisions but none of those were at this scale.

"-and he would never disobey my orders. That's not like Pit. Its not like him at all..."

"Is _that_ what's worrying you?" Palutena twitched in surprise, forgetting for a moment that Viridi was a Goddess and fully capable of reading her thoughts. "Actually, Palutena you've been talking out loud this whole time." Viridi corrected her. Maybe she should have just let Palutena keep thinking out loud.

"Oh, my mistake but I suppose there's no need to repeat my worries then?"

Viridi shook her head, "Nah, but even I can tell that's not the only thing bothering you. So spill, I promise I wont laugh."

Palutena sighed, she didn't want to burden Viridi with her problems but if she was willing to listen, she figured there was no harm in talking just a little bit. "I guess to put it simply, I'm scared."

"Scared?" Viridi wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't just heard it. The oh-so-mighty Goddess of Light scared? That was almost too unbelievable to believe. Especially with how Viridi had seen Palutena act. Nothing ever seemed to phase her. Not the mysteries invaders or even Hades himself.

The only time Viridi could recall seeing Palutena scared was when Pit was in danger.

"Pit left without a word. He's gone, and now Pittoo and Phosphora are down there looking for him and we can't see them either! I have no idea what's going on or what they're doing or even if they're safe! I don't even know what's down there!"

"Palutena?" the room was getting hotter.

"I'm...I'm not used to being kept in the dark. I can't say I'm a fan of not knowing what's going on."

Viridi grit her teeth, this was going to much harder than she thought. But she still had to try, she owed it to Pit and Pittoo, and to Palutena herself. And her floor would be ruined that too, mostly that.

"Hey uh-" Viridi took a small step forward, keeping her eyes glued to a random spot on the wall in an effort to not look Palutena in the eyes.

Palutena turned her head to look at the small Goddess and Viridi took that as a cue to continue, "I wouldn't worry about them that much, Pittoo and Phosphora can handle themselves! I mean, just because they both lost to Pit doesn't mean they can't find him. That Angel of yours is as easy to find as a frog on a rainy day. They'll find Pit in no time and they'll _all_ be back here before you know it!"

"Hmm." Palutena looked like she was thinking Viridi's words over. Viridi took this as the go ahead to keep going.

"And stop worrying about not being a know-it-all the time! There's gonna be some things you just don't know! Not even I know everything, and I'm the best Goddess around! That's how life works Palutena, whether you like it or not. So you can mope around all day and burn through my floor if you want or you can suck it up and live with it!"

Viridi stood triumphantly, proud of her carefully chosen words. Then she heard Arlon groan behind her. She didn't even have to look to know he was shaking his head disapprovingly.

To both their shock Palutena's warm glow began to fade and the tense atmosphere almost immediately disappeared from the room.

"I believe your words of encouragement did the trick." Arlon whispered to the bewildered Goddess.

"Huh? Oh! Well of course they did!" Viridi flipped her ponytail in triumph, she wasn't sure why people always told her she didn't have a way with words when she was obviously great at it! "You feeling better there, Palutena?" Viridi looked down at the singed floor. The damage wasn't too bad, just a few burns here and there. Nothing a mat wouldn't cover up.

Viridi's attention was ripped away from the floor by the sounds of clicking heels. She turned to see Palutena looking at her waterfall's view of the forest. Instead of looking nervous however, there was a look of anticipation on her face. Without a second thought Viridi walked over to Palutena's side to look alongside her. To no one's surprise the view was the same as it was a minutes before.

"Eh, they'll be okay. They've been through way worse. Remember that time Hades ate Pit? I swear you were seconds away from blasting Hades away before Pittoo reminded you Pit was inside him!"

Palutena suppressed a laugh and looked down at the Goddess of Nature, a relieved smile on her face. "Thank you, Viridi."

* * *

**-every nook and cranny-**

After collecting himself Dark Pit took off running. Where to? What direction? It really didn't matter which way he was going as long as he could find his lost brother.

"Where are you going?!" a surprised voice called out behind him, causing him to stop right in his tracks. Behind him Phosphora was right on his trail. "What are _you_ still doing here?" Dark Pit asked, despite knowing full well why Phosphora was following him.

"What am I-?!" Phosphora was at a loss for words, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, hoping that the rebellious Angel wouldn't take off running while she thought things through. She was relieved to see him still standing there. His arms crossed and single foot tapping in an inpatient rhythm just waiting for her to answer. "Did you really forget what Viridi warned us about just now or are _both_ of your heads empty?!"

"M-Our heads aren't empty!"

"Then surely you remember that we have to stick together!"

"Maybe you do!"

"That...That doesn't even make any sense!"

"You don't make any sense!" Dark Pit yelled back at her, before turning to run from Phosphora as far away as he could. He believed that no matter which way he ran it would bring him closer to wherever Pit was, their weird twin connection would make sure of that. It just had to!

"Wait!"

The forest around them was dense with trees. Much denser than how Viridi described it. The trees were bunched up together, way too close to each other. Almost like a child who'd never seen a forest in their life designed it. It was because of this reason that Phosphora found it difficult to quickly fly after Dark Pit. Its very hard to fly when you keep bumping into a tree almost every direction you went.

"Ugh, Viridi really needs to work on researching her sources..." Phosphora decided that the best course of action was to slowly navigate the maze of trees and quietly follow behind. While Dark Pit did storm off, he hadn't actually run too far. It looked like he encountered the same problem as Phosphora had. His Electroshock Arm was also turning out to be more of a burden than an asset, as almost every time he tried to turn a corner the Arm kept bumping into a tree or getting stuck.

Not to mention he didn't have Phosphora's advantage of being able to generate light, so he found himself stumbling around in the dark. His only saving grace was the few rays of lights trickling from above.

"If this is what it takes...Then Palutena better thank me later."

As Phosphora peeked her head from behind of a tree she noticed that Dark Pit was looking up at the trees.

If it wasn't for the sheer amount of leaves above them, he would have been staring up at the sky. She heard a clear sniffle coming from the young Angel before he flapped his wings and walked around another tree.

"Pit, please be okay..." he whispered to no one but himself.

* * *

**-hey check out this rock-**

"I know you're still following me!" Dark Pit turned around to yell where he knew Phosphora was spying at him from.

She was making no effort to hide herself. Why would she? "I can't believe you actually thought I would leave you alone." Phosphora crossed her arms and floated closer to the grumpy angel, "Besides, you need my help!" Phosphora didn't want to be partially responsible for two lost Angels today.

"No, I don't!" Dark Pit fluffed up his wings in anger. Phosphora couldn't even muster the energy to call him out on it.

"You've been walking around in circles this whole time!"

"So have you!"

"Because I've been following you, you dweeb!"

"Then stop following me you idiot!" with that final insult Dark Pit took off running deeper into a maze of trees.

Phosphora grabbed her scarf and screamed into it.

She liked Pittoo, she really did, but he was so insurable sometimes she questioned whether it was worth trying to work together with him. Phosphora glanced down the path Pittoo ran down, his silhouette was still visible so he hadn't run that far. "Ugh, he's really just a kid isn't he...?" and she couldn't leave him by himself, no matter how much he annoyed her. After all, it wasn't that long ago that she acted just like him. Like a know it all loner showoff with a mean streak.

...The part about the showoff-y streak was perfectly justified though, she was just that good.

"I better go after him." Phosphora floated closer as quietly as she could, soon enough she was back to hiding behind a tree.

Dark Pit was staring at an unremarkable large rock, carefully unequipping the Electroshock Arm from his hand and carefully placing it to the side. "Please don't tell me he's going to do what I think he's going to do." Phosphora whispered to herself. Dark Pit made it a habit to tell everyone who was willing to listen how smarter he was than Pit and looking under a rock for someone who was most likely not under a rock seemed like a very not-that-smart thing to do.

Dark pit whipped his head from side to side, failing to look behind him to where Phosphora was floating almost in plain sight. Then he lifted the rock above his head, "Pit?"

Phosphora floated in place, just staring while Pittoo gently put the rock down. "Yeah, I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

**-hes not in my thoughts—**

"Wh_yyyy_ do you keep following me?!" Dark Pit yelled at Phosphora, who was floating no less than a few 'Dark Pit steps' away from him. He swung his Electroshock Arm wildly in the air to prevent her from coming any closer.

"Maybe because I'm seriously concerned how much progress you're making since _somebody_ keeps looking under rocks!"

Dark Pit's wings puffed themselves out again, "Pit could be under them!" he explained, he wasn't sure why Phosphora couldn't wrap her head around that concept. It was literally so easy.

"He could be under a rock?! How would you know?!"

"Hey, I know Pit better than anyone-"

"-because you are him, right?" Even after years of knowing him Phosphora still didn't know the whole story about Dark Pit's creation. From what she gathered from the bits and pieces she heard here and there, Pittoo was some dark side of Pit's. Which explained a lot because Pittoo was in no way evil or malicious like his name would have someone believe. He was just a little rude and direct, which was exactly what she expected someone like Pit to have as a 'dark side.'

Dark Pit seemed to think otherwise. "Because I was a _PART_ of him! So, I know him better than anyone!" he stomped his feet and flapped his wings in clear annoyance. How many times would he have to explain his existence to everyone?

"Okay. Lets just say for a minute Pit would hide under a rock, in a tree or even in that hole in the ground you looked in just a few minutes ago. Do you want to explain how he would FIT in there?!"

"Shrinky bean."

"Excuse me."

"He might have a shrinky bean on him."

"...Do you _know_ he has a 'shrinky bean' on him?"

Dark pit didn't bother answering and instead decided to climb the nearest tree to see if Pit was hiding among its leaves.

* * *

**-then think again!-**

"Waaaaah!"

Dark Pit fell out of his sixth tree in a row. Luckily by the sixth tree Phosphora caught on to his tumbles and successfully caught him in her arms. She looked down at him with a smug smile, "You're welcome."

"Please put me down."

"Only if you stop being such a pain."

"I can't stop being something I'm not being!" Dark Pit pushed himself out of Phosphora's grasp. He dropped to the ground but successfully landed on his feet. "At least I'm actually looking for Pit! What are you doing huh?!" Dark Pit crossed his arms and looked over to another tree, mentally planning how he could climb it without falling off. Maybe this time he could try climbing it up without his Electroshock Arm, but if the forest was as full of danger as Viridi and Palutena warned them he needed to make sure he was ready for a sneak attack.

His view was suddenly blocked by an angry Phosphora, her hands balled up into fists. "What I'm doing is making sure a bratty Angel doesn't get himself hurt! You know it would be really bad if we lost **two** Angels now wouldn't it?!"

Dark Pit gasped, a guilty look strewn across his face. Phosphora took a guess that some of her words must have finally made some sense to him. He sighed and looked away from her, "I guess."

Phosphora sighed and floated just a bit closer to him, she didn't mean to make him feel bad about being so determined to find Pit. They were all worried and out of all of them it made sense that Pittoo would be desperate to find him. They were after all, brothers. Even if the last thing they did before Pit disappeared was have an argument.

"Oh." suddenly everything clicked into place. Why Dark Pit was so intent on finding Pit by himself. _'Could it be that he feels this is his fault?' _Sure, the argument was small in the grand scale of things but who knows what Pit was thinking at the time, or even after. Maybe he was just as reckless as Dark Pit. Maybe Pit thought if he handled the mission by himself Dark Pit would forgive him. It wasn't the soundest logic, but both Angels weren't the wisest people.

"What?" Dark Pit noticed that Phosphora was looking all around her, looking abnormally worried. "Don't tell me this place is already getting to you. We've only been here for half an hour, tops." and here she was boasting about watching him when she was already looking like she was seconds from giving up and going home.

Phosphora jolted back in surprise. She was so caught up in her own thoughts she completely forgot about Dark Pit! "Its n-nothing! I just..." she looked around everywhere trying to think of something to say.

Sure, she could confront Dark Pit about this here and now, but she still wasn't 100 percent sure that was even the problem. Phosphora's saving grace came in the form of a stray ray from the sun, shining into her eye.

"Ow...Oooh! Wait a minute!"

"I'm waiting."

"What if-" Phosphora's hands moved excitedly as she tried to put her plan into words. Small sparks flew out of her hands with every small movement. "What if I fly up and see I can spot Pit from the sky!"

"That's...That's actually kinda smart."

"I know!"

"Hmph! Can't you just take a compliment like a normal person?"

"Do you mean by not accepting it?"

"Uh, yeah duh. No normal person just accepts a compliment. What's wrong with you?"

Phosphora decided she would unpack that whole conversation at a later date, now it was time to focus to finding Pit. "Alright. Okay. Here's the plan." Phosphora floated up, just high enough to where her head hit the leaves of the trees. Shaking a few leaves off her head she pointed at Dark Pit and began explaining her plan. "Alright step one: I fly over the tree line and look for any signs of Pit."

Dark Pit nodded, Phosphora was happy because it looked like he was willing to follow her plan. So far.

"Step two: you stay right there and wait for me! Got it? You do not move even a single muscle."

Dark Pit scowled and grumbled something under his breath. Phosphora wasn't able to decipher it but it probably wasn't anything nice. Before she could say anything else to try to convince him to stay and wait, Dark Pit put his arms to his side and yelled a quick, "Fine!" before he sat down on the dirt.

Phosphora smiled, she knew from experience Dark Pit probably regretted acting purely on spiteful instinct and sitting on the first place he could.

"Pffft...Alright." Phosphora wiped a tear from her eye, "Can I trust you to stay here then?"

"Yeah."

"Pinky promise?"

Phosphora's heart lit up when she heard a light snort from the Angel. Even if she could lighten the situation just a little bit, that was a victory for her. Without looking up at her Dark Pit answered, "Sure..."

Now a little more confident that she was been before, Phosphora slowly started to float up past the trees. Her eyes stayed on Dark Pit until he disappeared behind the leaves of the trees.

It looked like Dark Pit was right when he said not a lot of time had passed since they started searching in the forest. The sky was a clear blue and the sun was still almost right above them. From where Phosphora was floating she had a clear view of some of the forest, a light fog still covered up some of the farther away areas and all Phosphora could do about that was hope that Pit didn't wander that far into the forest.

"Okay Pit, where are you?"

* * *

**-"embrace the role the other was destined to play"-**

The sky was getting dark and Pit was getting tired. How long had he been walking now? Everything was kind of a weird blur of trees and whispers. Pit rubbed at his eyes in an attempt to keep himself awake. It wasn't easy to do with the Dark Pit Staff in his hand, but he managed.

"Uuh...?" Pit at this point was having trouble remembering what he was doing down here. He couldn't remember, he could only feel that he was supposed to be down here. Pit also knew he was scared. He knew he needed to go back and find Palutena and Pit, or even Phosphora and Viridi to help him.

But his guilt and slight desire for independence quickly snuffed those thoughts out. He needed to do this by himself. For himself.

_'I'll find him-'_

"-I know he's around here somewhere." Pit echoed, he was confident he would find _him_ if he just kept looking. Whoever was following him wasn't doing a good job of completing the mission anyway.

_'He's alive. I know he is-'_

"-if I'm okay, he's okay." Pit kept walking, now more tired than ever. Yet, something told him this was the right way to go.

No, he **knew** this was the right way to go. And with every step he took, _Pit_ quietly faded away.

* * *

**-never trust a...-**

Dark Pit sat on the ground, his legs crossed, one of them nervously shaking. He leaned forward on his Electroshock Arm and looked straight in front of him.

From where he sat, he knew he couldn't see past the trees to see how far Phosphora flew off to but if she was true to her word she was right above him. He just had to trust her. He had to learn to trust her.

Its not like Dark Pit didn't trust her, it was just that Dark Pit didn't know if he could trust her. He knew he wanted to trust her, otherwise at the rate they were going Pit would be lost forever and Dark Pit would be living on more of a timer than he already was...and he would be one brother short for the rest of his life.

"Why is this so hard?" Dark pit rested his cheek on his free hand and looked straight up at the barrier of trees that blocked out anything that dared to enter the forest. "Trusting people...it shouldn't be this hard right?" its not like having to spend the first days of his existence being hunted down by literally almost everyone he knew could have caused him to develop severe trust issues or anything.

That would be ridiculous.

Dark Pit took off his Electroshock Arm to set it down on his side and stretched out his arms, letting out a long yawn. With the sky blocked out there was no way to tell how long it'd been since they started looking for Pit. Hopefully Phosphora would come down with some good news soon, because if Dark Pit was feeling tired chances were that Pit was exhausted.

Whatever he was out there doing.

"_Out there dying maybe?"_

Dark Pit jumped up from his dirt seat, hastily equipping his Electroshock Arm back on and readying himself for an attack.

Whoever's voice he just heard wasn't Pit's or Phosphora's, and if it wasn't them there could only be a handful of someones it could have been. And none of the possibilities were good. "Who's there?!" his Electroshock Arm sprung to life, ready to take out any enemy that dared jump out at him.

_'Wow! Look at that! he's much more livelier than the other angel!'_

"Other Angel-?!"

_'Oh, yes!'_

Dark Pit noticed that this voice sounded different than the first voice, that could only mean there were two mysterious people talking to him.

_'A little white winged child! Wandering around without a care in the world. Quite dangerous really, especially with all those evil monsters running around.'_

"That's Pit!" Dark Pit couldn't believe it. He knew Pit was still alive! Dark Pit was still living and breathing after all, but to hear that Pit was fine from someone else but him and Phosphora calmed his nerves down a lot.

_'Ahh, what kind of a name is Pit?'_ one of the strange voices asked.

_'I think its a funny name! Pit! Just like a hole in the ground!'_ the other voice giggled, almost for too long_. 'Its fitting. Since he'll be in a hole six-feet in the ground pretty soon!'_

"What?!"

_'Don't fret! We can take you to him! It sounds like you're very worried!'_

_'You two look so much alike. Its uncanny! You must be twins of some sort!'_

Dark Pit awkwardly kicked at the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt. "You...You could say that." Wait what was he doing? This wasn't like him at all! Stop it!

_'Ahaha! Then what are you waiting for?'_

A strange purple glow lit up from behind a gathering of trees in front of Dark Pit. _'Come on and follow us! We'll lead you right to Pit!' _the voices said in unison, _'He's just over here! He told us to find you! And here you are!'_

Dark Pit nodded and stepped forward. He couldn't think of any reasons not to trust these voices.

...that was unless...

* * *

**-finally! a clue!-**

The cursed forest wasn't big, but when you had to stay stationary in one place or risk losing another Angel besides the one, it was absolutely giant.

Phosphora used everything in her to resist the temptation to fly away from Pittoo's position and take off flying on her own. For one, it would be disobeying Viridi's orders, and even worse she would be breaking her pinky promise to Pittoo.

"Man, did I actually go and get two free little brothers?"

As if getting a weird uncle and a pet rock wasn't enough when she joined the Forces of Nature, here she was now having to take care of actual children.

"I better not spend too much time up here." even though Pittoo fully agreed to her plan of having her search from the sky, there was still the scary possibility that he just said that to get rid of her while he ran off on his own.

"No. You have to trust him." she told herself. If Pittoo was going to trust Phosphora, she was going to trust him. No matter what.

Then by chance she spotted something. "A-ha!" Phosphora focused her gaze on strange spot in the forest where the trees were oddly shaking. It couldn't be the wind, the wind wouldn't be able to shake the trees that hard. Then to cement her suspicions a shot from what appeared to be a Staff shot up from the trees.

And there was only one person besides Pittoo that Phosphora knew used those types of weapons.

"Pit!" Phosphora let out a sigh of relief, a massive weight lifted from her chest. The good news was that Pit was still alive, and the even better news was that she knew where he was now.

"I just hope we're not too late."

* * *

**-hearttoo heart-**

As soon as Phosphora passed the tree canopy back into the forest and saw Dark Pit where she'd left him, albeit standing up, she let out a sigh. She knew she was right to trust him! She was going to trust him!

"Hey, Pittoo!"

Dark Pit jumped at the sound of his nickname being called and quickly turned around. To his relief it was just Phosphora, he let out a sigh and waited for her to fly closer to him. "D-Did you see anything?" he asked. Phosphora noticed that he seemed to be a little more jumpier than before she left him alone. His eyes were darting from side to side as if he were looking for something_. 'Poor guy. I must have left him alone for longer than I thought.'_

"Uh, Phosphora? Did you see anything?"

"Hmm? Oh right!" Phosphora spun around trying to pinpoint the direction where she saw shots being shot into the sky. "Right over there! I'm pretty sure saw some shoots were from a Staff! You know, those weapons you and Pit use!"

Dark Pit's eyes widened, Pit didn't bring a staff with him. He hadn't brought a weapon with him at all.

"I think maybe, Pit must have jumped with a Staff to try and take care of a few enemies by himself! I mean, it makes sense. What do you think, Pittoo?"

There was no way for Phosphora to know just how scared Dark Pit was. Dark Pit knew she wouldn't understand even if he explained. So it would be better to just, go.

And go, is exactly what Dark Pit tried to do.

He would have gotten away with running off to find Pit by himself if Phosphora wasn't as quick as she was and managed to fly ahead of him, stopping him in his tracks. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"I-I need to look for Pit!" Dark Pit pushed past Phosphora. It was something he'd never done before, her static electricity usually deterred him from doing that, but not this time. "Woah what!? H-Hey hold your horses!" taking more a forceful approach this time Phosphora grabbed Dark Pit's right arm, the one that wasn't holding on to the Electroshock Arm.

She wasn't surprised when Dark Pit tried to shake her off. "Let me go! I need to go!"

"By yourself?! Don't you remember you need to stick together?!"

"No, we don't! I can do this by myself!"

"We can go together! You can trust me!"

"I don't care! I need to find Pit!" with a hard pull of his arm Dark Pit pulled himself away from Phosphora so hard that he knocked himself to the ground, his Electroshock Arm tumbling right off his arm.

"Ugh..." not waiting for a chance for Dark Pit to tell her no, Phosphora took his hand and pulled him up.

"Don't take off running again because we both know how that's going to end."

Dark Pit moved his leg slightly forward, then moved it back.

"Look, I don't know what's going on but we need to work together to find Pit. Maybe you can put your teenage rebellion aside for one second so we can do this?"

"Its not...you don't...Pit is..."

"Yeah?"

"...I have to do this by myself. I'm the reason...I'm the reason we're here..." Dark Pit looked down and instinctively shielded himself using his wings. Everything that happened today, from the argument, to Pit's mysterious actions, to dragging Phosphora into his dumb problems

It was all his fault. There was no one to blame but himself. so, there was no one to solve his problems but himself.

"Do you really think you can solve all of this by yourself? Or does it make you feel better about yourself if you take all the credit?"

"Huh...? That's not what I-?!"

Phosphora was smiling. A smug smile was all over her face.

Dark Pit's tears stopped, a small laugh escaping his mouth. He played right into Phosphora's hands and it was sorta funny. In a way. "That's...ha-that's not the problem. You wouldn't get it."

"I'm not gonna get it if you don't explain what's going on."

Dark Pit proceeded to not explain anything at all. He smiled sadly at Phosphora and shook his head "Its just my fault. Okay?"

Having a breakdown in the middle of a forest while surrounded by things that had the potential to kill them wasn't ideal, but if it was going to happen anywhere Dark Pit figured it might as well happen before he was about to die. Its funnier that way. "This is my fault! I wanted to try something dangerous but I never thought-I never thought that this would happen..." Dark Pit's guilty conscience decided to ignore the part where he decided that having Pit hold the Staff would be too dangerous in the end. He successfully pushed it into silence.

"How is this your fault?"

"A-After I fought with Pit he must have gone to my room and then...and then the Staff-"

"Were you the one who left him alone in the middle of the temple?"

"I...N-No?"

"You know who did that?"

Dark pit slowly shook his head, he'd honestly forgotten. Phosphora couldn't blame him. Not after everything that happened.

Her hand lightly tapped the side of her face and she smiled, "That was me, remember? You even told me off for doing that." at the time she hadn't understood why Dark Pit was so mad at her for leaving Pit behind. Now, she finally understood. Dark Pit knew Pit better than anyone, probably rivaling even Palutena in that regard. If he was mad that she left him alone then she made a big mistake, and now she was sure more than ever that she did.

"...Oh yeah." Dark Pit lightly tapped his Electroshock Arm on the ground.

"So if there's anyone who's to blame, its me."

"Hmm."

"Soooo I'm going to look for Pit by myself then!" Phosphora backed off and winked at the Angel. Getting ready to fly off on her own again.

Dark Pit panicked and held his hand out, "You can't do that! That's...dangerous." a grimace crossed his face as he realized he played right into Phosphora's hands. Again.

The understanding expression on Phosphora's face was enough proof to prove him right.

"I'm only going to say this once so listen up. Just because you created a problem doesn't mean you have to deal with it all by yourself. Not when there are people that care about you willing to help you out."

"I know that."

"Do you?"

"Uh-yeah?!"

"If you're not going through your _'Oooh im a tough guy so i dont need any help'_ phase, then what's up?"

Dark Pit brought his arms closer to himself and shrugged, he wasn't quite sure of what he was feeling anymore.

At first he wanted to show everyone that he could handle things by himself to show everyone he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. But then after the mission to find Pit began, something changed, and he couldn't tell what it was.

His thoughts came to a full halt when Phosphora laid a soft hand on his hair, ruffling it affectionately. "Hey, its okay! Let's just keep things slow and focus on finding Pit for now, kay?"

Dark Pit pushed his hair back to its usual style, wondering why everyone liked doing that to his perfectly combed hair. "Fine, fine." Dark Pit looked over to a dark spot near some trees where an eerie purple glow had been earlier. He planned on not telling Phosphora about what he saw and heard, but now she needed to know. "But I need to tell you-

"You know, I was just like you."

Dark Pit raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Okay maybe not just like you. But I was close!" Phosphora sighed and twirled a strand of hair on her finger. "A cocky kid who thought she could handle everything by herself. Any battle, any trail I could handle it all by myself." she looked up at the sky and Dark Pit looked up alongside her, of course there was nothing but dense leaves above them. "Lucky for me, when I got too over my head there were people to help me get through it. And I'm gonna help you get through this too."

"Oh..." Dark Pit didn't think to ask Phosphora to clarify about what she was talking about. He was satisfied with the little info he got.

"We rebellious sparks gotta stick together! Someones has to liven up things around Arlon and Pit. They're two sticks in the same puddles of mud if you ask me."

Dark Pit covered his mouth to try and not burst into laughter at Phosphora's ridiculous comparison of the most polar opposite people she could ever list. "Ppfftt! Arlon and Pit?! You're kidding!" Dark Pit laughed out loud, his laughter was a welcome noise to the silent forest surrounding them.

"Yeah! I mean don't tell me you can see Pit going _'Oh, Lady Palutena a pleasure to see you today. Would you like a cup of tea with sugar?'_ " this impersonation was complete with Phosphora's worst english accent of course.

Now Dark Pit was on the floor laughing, Phosphora laughed alongside him just up in the air instead.

She stopped laughing to look at the giggling Angel. As much as she told herself otherwise, she'd grown attached to him. To both him and Pit. After this they should really go and find him, he must have been scared by this point.

Phosphora let out a soft sigh, it was a nice moment, while it lasted.

'_Aww isn't that sweet? Its enough to make me sick.'_

Dark Pit's laughter came to a sudden stop when he gasped. He jumped to his feet and equipped his Electroshock Arm back on, charging it up.

"Who was that? What was that?!" Phosphora asked. The voice sounded distant and unfamiliar to her. Whoever it was also didn't sound friendly. Though not a lot of her friends did not to be fair.

Dark Pit ran up in front of Phosphora and spread his wings. Phosphora took this as a signal to prepare for a fight and flew up behind of Pittoo ready to cover him if anything tried to attack them. From behind her Phosphora heard Dark Pit trying to say something, "Um, hey Phosphora?"

"What's up?"

"You remember that lesson on fairies, right? Cause I wasn't really paying attention."

"You're kidding."

* * *

**-pandoras box-**

That morning when Phosphora first greeted Viridi, the Goddess offered her a cryptic fortune along with her morning tea.

"_You'll be facing small enemies today. So uuuuhhh watch out. I guess"_

At the time it made no sense. Now it made way too much sense.

Glowing flashes of purple and blue flew right past Phosphora again. She shot a bolt of lightning to where she predicted the orbs would fly, but just like before the lightning hit a tree. "Hold still will you!" she screamed at the orbs she was positive were the mythical fairies that Viridi warned them about. There wasn't even any time to be impressed.

'_Are we too quick for you? How sad, I thought you were quicker than that.'_

"Hey!" it wasn't Phosphora's fault she couldn't move around as fast as she could have. The forest was cramped and if Phosphora attempted to kick or fly around she would likely get Pittoo caught in the crossfire.

The same disadvantage also applied to him. All Dark Pit could do was shoot projectiles at the quick moving targets. This was the fairies home turf, not theirs.

The glowing fairies circled them to the point where Dark Pit could have sworn there were more than two. He shook his head clear, remembering what Phosphora told him about how fairies tended to use tricks and illusions to their advantage. "Just ignore them! They're trying to get your guard down." Dark Pit assured himself. He let out a couple of weak shots from his Electroshock Arm, trying to hit the flying blue orb.

"Nice job remembering this time Pittoo! Maybe next time you can remind me if I forget!"

Dark Pit faintly smiled at Phosphora's compliment and swung his Arm at an orb that had gotten to close for his liking.

The orb quickly flew away, causing him to miss, but from his perspective it almost looked like the orb of light teleported away. "Dang it." he grit his teeth. At this rate he and Phosphora would tire themselves out before even landing a single hit.

'_Oh, little angel is that all you can do?'_

What looked to be a large cloud of orbs flew towards Dark Pit, surrounding him completely. He raised his arms and his Arm to defend himself, but the anticipated hit never came. The fairies just flew around him, almost obscuring him from view.

"Pittoo!" he could hear Phosphora yelling but the glow of the fairies was too bright too see anything but a myriad of blues and purples. Dark Pit closed his eyes, as if that would give him more time to think of a way out of this mess.

The answer was simple. This was an illusion. But how much of it was an illusion? Phosphora was real, she had to be. They were talking just a few minutes ago...right? No, no she was real. definitely real. So then, what else could be the illusion?

Dark Pit was tempted to open his eyes, even just for a quick peek, but he knew what awaited him if he did. A breeze from the fairies flying around him was still hitting him, he could feel his scarf flutter with every pass.

But it wasn't strong enough of a breeze for the amount of fairies he thought he was seeing.

'_Did you lose your fighting spirit? Ah, how tragic.'_ he could hear one of the fairies say, and even though his eyes were closed (or was it because they were closed?) he could tell they were to his left. No clue if it was the blue or purple one though, but that didn't really matter, did it?

'_That's not a surprise. The other puny little wimp didn't put up much of a fight either.'_

Dark Pit's eyes snapped open. He was meet with the predicted sight of a blinding assortment of lights. As quick as he opened them, he closed his eyes again. Just in case. He had so many questions for them, but the chance of a bunch of trickster fairies answering his questions honestly was slim to none.

'_Are you curious young angel? Do you have any questions?'_

'_We've got the answers! Aren't you at __**least**__ a little curious why we want-?'_

Dark Pit heard enough.

He finally heard enough to know that there were only two fairies, the rest of the fairies he and Phosphora tried attacking must have been illusions. That also meant that they were close to him, right next to him even. The perfect opportunity presented itself. Inside of the Electroshock Arm, Dark Pit crossed his fingers hoping that Phosphora would follow his plan.

He couldn't do it alone after all.

"Phosphora!"

"Pittoo?!" Phosphora was floating close by, but she was unsure of what she could do without hurting him. There wasn't much she could do but keep herself safe until the fairies left Dark Pit alone. There were also a few stray fairies flying around her. They didn't do much but pull at her hair and scarf, but as much as she swatted at them they wouldn't go away.

But amid the circle of lights and quick flashes an Electroshock Arm breached the illusions.

"Lightning rod! Its a lightning rod!" Dark Pit yelled as loud as he could, and like a flash a lightning Phosphora immediately understood. The plan was reckless and she knew if Palutena knew the stunt they were about to pull Phosphora would be dead where she floated, but she trusted Dark Pit to know what he was doing.

'_What are you doi-?!'_

'_Look out!'_

By the time the fairies understood what was going on Phosphora already fired a concentrated shot of lightning aimed straight at Dark Pit's Electroshock Arm.

The lightning made contact with the Arm and a shockwave of electricity rippled away from it and just as Phosphora hoped (and planned) the bigger the person was, the less effect the shockwave would have on them. The worst it did to Dark Pit was shock him at the level of if he'd just slid down a plastic slide on a hot summer day.

The fairies on the other hand were much smaller and not so lucky.

'_Aaack!' _the orbs of light surrounding Dark Pit immediately disappeared. The two familiar purple and blue orbs flew back in opposite directions. One orb flew right past Phosphora and she decided to give chase. Only to run right into a tree. She hoped, wished, that Dark Pit's eyes were still closed as she fell right into a bush.

Thank goodness they were.

The trees around them rustled and shook, revealing where the fairies (and also Phosphora) landed. Dark Pit opened his eyes and slammed his Electroshock Arm down, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

He didn't expect his plan to work as well as it did. Sure he might get a shock or two when he shakes other people's hands for the next hour or so, but it was worth the price of...whatever the fairies were planning on doing.

'_I...We should have expected this. You angels are no laughing matter.'_

Dark Pit gasped, aiming his Electroshock Arm in the direction he heard the fairies' voice come from. He mentally criticized himself for aiming considering this could just be another illusion. "What do you want? Why attack us?" his eyes darted from tree to tree, all the leaves were moving in succession. It must have been another illusion. "Are you the ones luring humans here?" the first reason they were all supposed to come down here became lost in the midst of the desperation to find Pit, but it wasn't a bad time to ask.

'_Maybe. Can you afford to do anything about it?_

Dark Pit took note of the direction where he heard the voice come from, the fairies weren't creating any more illusions so they must be exactly where they sounded they were. A tree to his right rustled, they were cornered. Now was as good a time as any to take the finishing shot. Dark Pit aimed the Electroshock Arm and with no hesitation he-

'_All they needed was one of you. And you're not the one we want. Not anymore.' _

"What-?"

Before the fairies could say anything else that was highly suspicious, Dark Pit heard a bang from behind him. A dark purple shot of energy flew past and hit a tree in front of him. Right after Dark Pit could see the purple and blue orbs flying away, most likely scared from whatever just shot at them.

"What the-?!"

He looked back to see if Phosphora decided to randomly add a different color to her lightning.

He was confused to see her lying in a bush, trying to get up with as much dignity as possible. It looked like mind was completely occupied on that because if she was paying attention to anything else, she would have noticed a very important person walk into the scene.

A person who Dark Pit was both elated to see and terrified out of his mind to find.

Standing right in front of Dark Pit, was Pit.

And just as Dark Pit feared, in his hand was his own Dark Pit Staff and a shocked look on Pit's face.

If was if Dark Pit were staring right into a mirror.

* * *

**-The only me is me.-**

"Well! That takes care of that." Phosphora dusted off any stray leaves still stuck on her. While she wasn't injured from running into a tree, the emotional embarrassment of doing so wasn't going to leave her anytime soon. For the first time in the mission to rescue Pit, Phosphora was glad Viridi couldn't see them.

If she could, Phosphora would never hear the end of it.

She was proud however about her lesson on teamwork having gotten through to Dark Pit. Maybe later when they were alone back home she would tell him just how proud she was. She could even throw in a nice snack as a reward! Phosphora grinned and took to the air again, making her way back to Dark Pit's side to congratulate him.

He was, oddly enough, standing in the same spot she last him in before she was blown away. There was something odd about his stance but Phosphora was willing to brush it aside as being tired. Anyone would be tired after a fight, even if it was against two small fairies. "Wow! I guess I'm a better teacher than I thought! Good job out there Pittoo!"

"It wasn't me."

"Huh?"

Phosphora looked over to where Dark Pit was staring. Whatever he was seeing had him frozen in place and there wasn't much that could strike fear into Pittoo's heart like that.

Her confusion only grew when she saw Pit standing right in front of them.

"Pit! There you are!" before Phosphora could fly to him and ask if he was okay, Dark Pit held out his armed arm in front of her. With the Electroshock Arm Phosphora almost had the wind knocked out of her. Again. "Hey what's the deal? Pit is right there! The fairies are gone so this is no trick. What's wro-?"

Dark Pit ignored Phosphora's questions in favor of confirming his worst fears. "Pit?" Dark Pit asked.

_"Pit?"_ his twin echoed.

"What the-?" Phosphora looked at Pit, looking him over. He stood perfectly still, the most she'd ever seen him stay in one place since the day they meet. Pit's eyes were focused something, she couldn't tell if he was looking at her or at his twin.

There was something eerie about that.

However, there was nothing more eerie than Pit's expression. He looked just as surprised as Dark Pit did.

In fact, Phosphora suddenly saw more similarities between them than she'd ever seen before. Was it her imagination or was Pit's hair darker than before? Maybe it was just the lack of light. "Hey Pit..." she said treading carefully, "I don't know what's going on or what you're doing but let's get you back home, okay? Palutena is really worried about you, and I know you'd never want to make her worried."

Pit said nothing in response.

Instead Pit turned his head slightly to look-right at Pit. Dark Pit looked down at the Staff in Pit's hand and-Pit gasped.

"Pit? Why did you come down here? And-"

_"-why are you holding that?!"_ Pit said, finishing Dark Pit's sentence for him. It was something that both of them tended to do the other once in a while, but even so Dark Pit took a step back in surprise. There was something about this time that felt off.

Almost as if this time, Pit knew what Dark Pit was going to say before he did.

Pit's gaze remained locked on Dark Pit, even as he stepped back. Pit stepped back alongside him, following his clone's movements to a T. Pit's grip on the Dark Pit staff tightened.

"Didn't you hear me? Why are you holding my Staff?!"

To make matters even worse, Dark Pit could have sworn he saw a flash of red in Pit's eyes.

* * *

**-Are you sure the only you is you?-**

Dark Pit stood as still as the forest around him. Its not that he was scared of what would happen if he moved. It was more like he didn't know what to do next.

There his brother was in front of him, holding the same Staff he was going to ask him to hold only a few hours ago. He never planned this far ahead, but he really should have. One thing was for sure. He never planned to feel this scared.

"Psst! Hey, Pittoo?" Phosphora asked, he'd forgotten she was even here. Let alone floating right behind him. She must have been really confused, more confused than he was by a long shot.

Before he could answer her, his voice echoed out of someone else. "Yeah?" answered Pit.

"I-I wasn't talking to you, Pit." Phosphora's voice was clear with uneasiness. It didn't help that Pit said nothing back to her, he just stared at her with the same expression of confusion mixed with fear he'd been showing since he walked in.

"Okay. That's weird."

Dark Pit and Pit both sighed, slouching and flapping their wings in defeat. Right after that Pit gasped followed by Dark Pit, who was slowly losing his apprehension to just being plain annoyed. No one likes a copycat and Dark Pit hated when someone copied his style, especially if it was Pit. "Okay, Pit. Lets just..." Pit said, stepping back away from Dark Pit as he mirrored his twin's actions.

"Drop the-"

_"-Staff, Pit!"_ Pit said after him.

"Woah..." Phosphora floated by, trying to put together what was happening from the little bit of clues she could gather. Whatever was really going on it looked like somehow, someway, Pit was repeating Dark Pit's movements. Not only in his expressions, Pit was mimicking his words and even his body language.

"Pit please-"

"-let's just go home!" the twins pleaded to each other.

"Pit stop it-"

_"-just let it go-_

"-and we can-"

_"-put this all behind us!"_

Phosphora looked back and forth at both twins, trying to note any difference between the two. There were virtually none, not as much as there were before. She knew as well as anyone else that knew the circumstances of Dark Pit's creation essentially meant they were the same person, but they were anything but that.

Pit was Pit.

Dark Pit was Dark Pit. It was as simple as that.

But this?

This was like Phosphora was staring at two Dark Pits and this wasn't at all like if one twin decided to dress like the other. This was like if Dark Pit was influencing Pit's thoughts and actions. Almost as if...

Phosphora gasped, loudly. Loud enough to cause Dark Pit to turn around to see if anything happened to her. Pit turned around right after him, to face no one.

"Wha-What is it? Can't you tell I'm busy..."

"You're-! You're controlling Pit!"

"How do you...?"

Phosphora flew to position herself in between Dark Pit and Pit, both of them turning around to look at her. Phosphora began to explain, "I just noticed that like, whenever you do something Pit does it too!"

"Yeah, I also-"

_"-have eyes."_

"You stay out of this Pit!" she yelled, turning and pointing her finger at the light Angel. Predictably he said nothing in response. He sure looked mad though.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. Twice." Phosphora flew behind to Dark Pit's left so she could have a clear view of him and his twin, "Okay, do me a favor and lift up your arm." Dark Pit looked down then straight at his twin who stared right back. Pit looked nervous, that could only mean that Dark Pit looked just as nervous as he felt. This could all be solved if he told Phosphora what was really going on.

"_The lingering echoes of his warped twin."_ That was him, he was controlling Pit with his thoughts. Pit was echoing _**him**_.

He was doing the exact opposite thing he always wanted for the both of them. Dark Pit, and by extension Pit, valued freedom above all else. Dark pit knew what he wanted and while he was positive Pit wanted the exact same thing, that was a problem for another day because what Dark Pit was doing now...What he was doing, it made him no different than the Chaos Kin or even Pandora. He'd taken away Pit's free will and turned him into a puppet that echoed his thoughts and actions. Right?

"Pittoo? Are you going to...you know? We aren't gonna get any answers to this if you don't-"

Dark Pit wanted an answer to the mysterious idol, way back when. No answer was worth this. Phosphora needed to know that this was all because of him. Whatever happened after now and then didn't matter as long as he got his brother back.

Dark Pit took a deep breath. Pit took a deep breath.

"I...I know-"

_"-I'm controlling Pit."_

"Huehh?" Phosphora asked, her brilliant deduction been for nothing. She was happy that Dark Pit knew what was going on but-wait. But nothing! She still had no idea what was going on! "Alright Pittoo, care to clue me in on what you know? Cause now that I think about it you do look more like _'Kid caught stealing from a cookie jar'_ than _'Deer in the headlights.'_ "

"Its my fault-"

_"-its the Staff."_

"The Staff? Aren't you using the Electroshock Arm?" Phosphora asked.

"Not-"

_"-me."_

Phosphora laughed, "You're kidding." she didn't even have to turn around to know that Pit was the one holding onto a Staff. "Look, whatever's going on you can explain later." Phosphora rarely, if ever, used any celestial weapons so as far as she knew there might as well have been a weapon that could control another person. Why not? She didn't need any explanation, at least not now, "You know what you have to do to solve this right?"

"Y-Ye_ah..."_ Dark Pit and Pit struggled to say.

"Great! Then just make Pit let go of the Staff and we can go home!"

"I don't-"

_"-want to control him!"_ both Angels dropped to the ground, their wings shielding them from the outside world.

Phosphora flew back and sighed. Thankfully, even though it looked like she was dealing with two Angels she was, in all sense of the word, dealing with only one. One very difficult Angel.

"Look. I know you have a problem with authority. But now isn't the time!" Phosphora pleaded, even dropping everyone's affectionate nickname for him. Maybe Dark Pit would take her more seriously like that, "I know you don't want to control your brother, or whatever, but its too late for that! If its that Staff that's been doing it then its already been happening for who knows how long?!"

Dark pit and Pit looked up slightly. Their eyes meeting briefly before looking down again.

"I'm sorry its too late to stop this from happening, but you can still stop it from continuing. Tell him to let go of the Staff and we'll all make sure this never happens again."

"Do you-"

_"-promise?"_

Phosphora flew down and hovered her hand over Dark Pit's shoulder, a fog of electricity covered his shoulder. In front of him he saw Pit flinch alongside of him.

"I promise. And I'm sorry I couldn't help you or Pit earlier. From now on though, I'll make sure that you never feel this scared again."

Dark Pit looked at Phosphora, her eyes looked a little wet. He could trust her, he wanted to trust her and he was going to.

She was right, there really was nothing he could do about it. Whether he liked it or not, as long as Pit held onto the Dark Pit Staff he was going to be nothing more than an echo of Dark Pit's thoughts. No matter how much he tried to fight it, he would have to directly control Pit. Just once. Only once.

Then never again.

"Ok_ay."_ both twins agreed.

Phosphora smiled and backed away, "You got this." she reassured him.

Dark Pit stood up, and just as he expected Pit followed his movements perfectly. _'I'm sorry about this Pit.'_ he thought to himself, positive that Pit thought the same thing to himself. Taking note of which hand it was that was holding onto the Staff, Dark Pit closed his eyes and held his arm out. He couldn't see if Pit was still mirroring him but if everything was still the same as before then he must have. He could feel it.

Dark Pit took a deep breath, imagining his Staff in his empty hand, and then very quickly before he could hesitate-

Pit opened his hand and dropped the Staff to the ground.

"Pahn...?"

Dark Pit heard the Staff hit the ground. He opened his eyes to see the weapon finally out of Pit's hands and saw his twin take a small step forward. A wave of relief washed over him. Pit was back to normal now, right?

That's when Pit let out a loud gasp, his eyes closed as his body began to lean over. Dark Pit acted fast, running to Pit's rescue. Just when it looked like he was going to be too late Phosphora flew right past him.

She was at Pit's side just before he was able to hit the ground. "Woah there! I got you!" she caught the Angel in her arms and supported his fall. She could feel Pit trying to support himself using her arms, so he was still a little aware of what was happening.

"Pit!" as quick as Dark Pit could, he unequipped his Electroshock Arm and ran to his brother, making sure to grab the Dark Pit Staff as he ran by. Pit was leaning in Phosphora's arms, it looked like Phosphora was doing most of the work of keeping him on his feet. He looked over his brother for any injuries, but everything seemed to be fine.

"Pit?" Dark Pit asked, hoping, but not expecting a response from his brother. To his surprise Pit's eyes slowly opened, his eyes the same sky blue as they've always been. "Hey..." Pit answered weakly, "Long time no see Pittoo..." He flapped his wings, almost as if he were checking if they were still there. Pit looked up at his brother and through tired eyes gave him a curious look.

"Um, Pit?" Dark Pit wondered if Pit might have maybe remembered the past few hours and if he did, would he be mad?

Instead Pit laughed, a dumb smile on his face. "...Huh. Usually in my dreams you talk more..."

Dark Pit pouted, "This isn't a dream Pitstain! We just spent hours looking for you and you're just gonna think you were sleeping?!"

Pit snored and went limp in Phosphora's arms.

"I think Pit has the right idea. A nap sounds great right now." Phosphora adjusted Pit in her arms and slowly floated closer to the ground. She placed him gently down, laying him on his side and making sure not to bend his wings.

"Figures Pitstain would be able to sleep in the middle of a cursed forest." Dark Pit crossed his arms and walked back to where he left his Electroshock Arm. He lightly tapped the weapon, trying to think of a way he could take both weapons back at the same time. There was no way he was going to hand Pit back the Dark Pit Staff or any weapon of his. As of that moment, all Dark Pit's weapons were now off limits to all Angels named Pit from now on.

And also, anyone named Phosphora for added safety measures.

"How are we going to get back?" Dark Pit asked turning his attention away from his weapons. Phosphora was sitting in the air watching over Pit, her hands casually behind her back.

"Pfft, that's easy but..."

"Buuut?"

Phosphora looked down at the sleeping Angel then back to the not-sleeping Angel. She grinned and brought a playful finger to her mouth, "We're gonna need to work together to get home. You still trust me, right?"

Dark Pit blushed and frowned, "Y-Yeah! Duh! I mean-!"

"Great!" Phosphora zipped on over to Dark Pit and playfully tapped him on his nose, a spark flying out of her finger. "Just stay here and don't move!" she moved over to fly to the sky but stopped just short of breaching the trees. Dark Pit watched as she flew back down towards Pit and tapped his head, causing his hair to stand up on its end. "That goes double for you, you troublemaker! Stay right there!" she waggled her finger at him.

"Mmmphhh..." Pit answered.

"I'm glad we understand each other."

Phosphora turned back to fly, flipping her scarf behind her. "Wait!" Dark Pit shouted, stopping Phosphora right in her air tracks. She froze and looked at Dark Pit, his arm was held out and he looked surprised that he shouted out to her.

"What's up? I kinda have to go. Don't want to keep you guys waiting any longer than you have."

"Tha-Thanks for helping out in finding Pit, or whatever. I liked working together with you and maybe we can team more. I guess. I mean I wouldn't mind. I just wanna say-" Dark Pit took in a deep breath. That was maybe the fastest he'd ever talked. "I just wanna say...Thanks, for everything."

Phosphora felt the need to pick up the Angel in a swooping hug and congratulate him on his efforts, but now was not the time to show any sort of emotional vulnerability. Now was the time to be the cool big sister that they needed and get her and her brothers home, "Eh, it was my pleasure kiddo."

She could always do that later anyway.

"Don't call me kiddo ever again or I will kill you."

Phosphora laughed loudly, covering her mouth when she remembered Pit was still asleep and that they were still surrounded by potential dangers. _'Better hurry it up!'_ Phosphora took a quick victory lap around the Angels, making sure to circle by Pittoo more than once to playfully shock him.

"Phosphora!"

Then finally after hours of searching, Phosphora flew up past the trees for the second time that day and spread her arms in happiness.

"We got him!" she yelled at loud as she could. Telepathy or no telepathy, she was going to make sure Palutena and Viridi could hear her.

* * *

**-home again, home again. glad to be, home again.-**

"Hmm, yeah. I get it now."

"Good. Then I don't need to explain it again, do I?"

For the past hour while eating dinner in the Forces of Nature cafeteria, Dark Pit explained to Phosphora everything that lead up to Pit's disappearance that morning. Going all the way back to the day he visited Pit a few months ago.

"Let me get this straight." Phosphora took a bite out of her chocolate donut, "Mmph...You got a weird idol then some mysterious voice from the idol toss told you that Pit might hear your thoughts, or whatever, if he held your Staff?"

"Pretty much."

"And you thought trying that would be a good idea?"

"I was curious!"

A loud snore interrupted their conversation.

Across from them on the other side of the table sat, Pit. His face buried deep in the vanilla pudding Dark Pit served him just a few minutes ago. "You think he's going to be okay?" Phosphora asked, flying over the table and gently picking up Pit's head to slide the food tray from under him.

"Its like Palutena said. He's just tired." Dark Pit handed a handful of napkins to Phosphora so she could clean Pit's face free of pudding.

"The guy has been sleeping all day though! His sleep schedule is gonna be wrecked at this rate."

"Better him than me."

"Wooow! Some loving brother you are."

Pit let out another loud snore. He brought his arms up to the table, adjusting them into a makeshift pillow so he wouldn't have to rest his head on the hard wood of the cafeteria table. "Mmpff mini...taur..." he mumbled to himself.

"Aww...You know I'm still shocked Palutena decided to let him sleep over."

"I'm not." Dark Pit took a sip of his warm chocolate milk. Making sure to wipe off the milk mustache from above his lip. "Palutena is staying here too. She wouldn't leave Pit alone not after what I-"

"-Not after what happened. riiiight." Phosphora took another big bite out of her donut. "Man, I'm gonna go get some more! Saving the day takes it right out of you. Watch your brother for me while I'm gone. Kay'?"

"Sure."

Phosphora winked and took her leftover plate back to the snack counter. It something that annoyed Viridi every time she did it but she figured that she earned some free rule breaks after all she 'd done.

That left Dark Pit alone with Pit for the first time since Phosphora left both of them alone to wait in the forest.

Back in the forest all Dark Pit did was keep his eyes glued on his brother as he rolled and talked out loud in his sleep. Dark Pit was surprised to find out Pit even talked in his sleep. He started thinking, did he talk in his sleep too?

Shortly after that, he felt a warm wave of light overtake his body. He looked over to Pit and saw the same light surrounding him. Phosphora must have done her job and signaled to Palutena and Viridi where they were. He gripped the Dark Pit Staff in one hand and held onto the Electroshock Arm with the other, hoping neither would get left behind.

Dark Pit saw the forest slowly fade away from sight and the next thing he knew, he felt like he was being smothered in a hug.

"Err?" the hug felt warm, and tight. He looked up to see Palutena embracing him, to his left was Pit, still fast asleep. Her eyes looked a little red. She didn't say anything to him, her hand traveled to his head and pet his hair. It felt kinda nice.

After the hug Palutena asked Dark Pit about a million questions, like if he was okay, if he felt okay and if he was _**okay**_.

Dark Pit answered every last one of her questions.

Then after that, she turned her attention to Pit, trying to ask him the same things. Surprisingly, she had worse luck getting straight answers from Pit than she did with Dark Pit. At least Dark Pit answered all her questions. Palutena didn't even mind that he was still a little stand-offish to her. The important thing was that he and Pit were alive and Dark Pit was talking to her.

On the other hand, Pit answered every concern of hers with a snore.

From across the room Dark Pit could see a worried look on Palutena's face as she carried Pit away in her arms. She stopped just short of leaving the throne room, before bowing her head to both Viridi and Phosphora to thank them for their help.

"It was no problem, really." Viridi casually waved Palutena off while Phosphora floated nearby.

"Yeah! It was the least we could do!" Phosphora said, leaning back in the air. The rescue mission was a lot of hard work on her part, but it was thanks to everyone that Pit was able to come back home safe. Even Viridi must have been tired with how little she was complaining about being tired.

Phosphora figured she would give Palutena and Pit a break before complaining to them about how much effort she personally put in. They'd earned a little break after everything they've all been through.

And Viridi thought the same thing.

After that exchange, Dark Pit made his way back to his room to leave his weapons behind.

However, instead of hanging the Dark Pit Staff back on the wall he carefully placed it in the back of his closet. There was a chance he would hang it back up on his wall one day soon, but for now he would keep it out of Pit's reach.

Shortly after that, Phosphora came knocking on his door again, passing on Viridi's message that Pit and Palutena would be staying over for the night. "Viridi told me. Something about Palutena not wanting to tire Pit out more, but if you ask me it would be way easier if he were back home." With the message delivered, Phosphora invited Dark Pit over to have dinner at the unusually empty cafeteria. Dark Pit agreed mostly on the basis that he was starving and wanted to eat like one hundred cookies. All in one single sitting.

What the pair didn't expect to see when they got there though was the Goddess of Light and her Angel sitting side by side, both of them asleep on the cafeteria tables.

Pittoo took a single step into the cafeteria and Palutena jolted awake. "Ahh!" Palutena screamed and quickly looked around in a panic before calming down the instant she laid eyes on Pittoo.

"Pittoo its you! How are you doing?"

"Don't _'Pittoo how are you doing' _me. What are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Palutena held up a single fruit cup, "Getting a snack of course!"

"Uh-huh."

Palutena set down her fruit cup and let out a loud yawn, stretching her arms out behind her head. "Though, it is pretty late...Ah! Pittoo can you do me a favor?"

That was how Phosphora and Dark Pit ended up taking care of Pit. Again.

"Hey~! I'm back! They had more chocolate donuts! Today must be my lucky day, huh?" Phosphora brought back at least five more chocolate donuts with her, happily taking a bite out of the first one.

Dark Pit nodded, then looked back at his brother who was still peacefully sleeping the hours away. He hoped that somehow, someway, Pit would forget today.

Or at the very least, forget the part where Dark Pit controlled him like a puppet.

"Thanks again...by the way."

"Hey, don't mention it." Phosphora grabbed a donut and plopped it down on Pittoo's empty plate. "We're friends after all!"

"Yeah, friends." a small smile crossed his face.

"Friends who are going to be working together again pretty soon!"

"We're what."

Phosphora circled around him, flying to his side. "Didn't you hear? Viridi was so impressed with us she assigned us to another mission! This time we're supposed to be going to the New! Lunar Sanctum Arlon is building! Sounds exciting doesn't it?"

"T-The Lunar-what?!" Dark Pit bolted up and slammed his hands on the table, slightly shaking the plates on the table and even causing Pit to stir a bit.

"Yup! You've been there, right?"

"I have but-!" Dark Pit looked behind himself and flapped his wings, "That was back when I could fly on my own. I doubt I could make it there on only five minutes of flight time."

"I heard Pit made it there easy! And anything Pit can do you can do better right?"

"What if I need to fly after getting there?!" The chances of that having to happen weren't big but at this point in Dark Pit's life he felt like anything that could happen, would happen. "Its not like you can fly me around."

"Hey, yeah! That's a great idea!" Phosphora set down her plate and flew up behind Dark Pit.

Before he could say anything, she swooped him up in her arms. Much like how one would hold a wet cat after taking them out from their bath.

"Wow! You guys really _are_ light! It must come with being an Angel huh?"

"What are you doing?!" With Phosphora behind him, all Dark Pit could do to fight her restraint was kick his feet and flap his wings at a wild pace. To his credit, it did make it a little harder for Phosphora to keep a hold on him, but she was fully committed to this bit and a few stray feathers in her face was worth it.

"Put me down!"

"Aww, but this is great practice though! We'll make it to the Lunar Sanctum in no time!"

Under the two of them Pit happily snored away, dreaming of days long past.

* * *

phew

this chapter is kinda all over the place so im very sorry about that but other than that nothing much of importance relating to future chapters happened here, nope nothing at all...

...anyway next time palutena and pit attend a fun festival!

Down in a Human town.


	10. There is a Gathering (Side A)

**In which there is a Gathering and Cold food**

* * *

**-only the smartest can play the fool?-**

Palutena took another bite out of her sad plate of take-out nachos.

A few crumbs fell into her All-Seeing Fountain, but that was nothing new. All sorts of things fell in there through its eons of use and the fountain still worked as good as new. Though if it were to suddenly stop working right now Palutena would count it as a blessing rather than a curse.

She, of course, could turn it off any time she wanted but she couldn't bring herself to. Not today. "It looks like they're having fun." she took another chip from the bowl, making sure to double dip and continued staring at the nearby town that she turned her All-Seeing Eye to.

The Seaside Town wasn't busy or big by regular town standards, but today it was the stage to a wondrous festival. This particular evening was an evening before a very special day, so the village and the villagers decided to party all night. All the way to the next day's morning and even after that they would keep the party going as long as they could. Or at least that was the plan. Palutena had to hand it to them, when humans wanted to do something, they got it done. Well, most of the time.

"They sure are a tenacious bunch." Palutena said taking another handful of chips, munching loudly on them. "Though I wish they could quiet down. Just for today."

Except, there was no chance of that happening any time soon. Not today. Because today was the day that Palutena has been dreading all year.

Today was a day of celebration. An entire day dedicated to Palutena, the Goddess of Light.

"I wish I was the Goddess of Time or something..." that way she could skip her way past today. It would earn her an earful from other Gods for making all of them skip an entire day, but then she wouldn't have to deal with all of this.

Palutena eyed a large group of humans in the town square gathering around a newer temple dedicated to her. The festival was barely starting so a group of worshipers were busy trying to clean up the temple the best they could. After an embarrassing blunder involving a can of blue paint and several garish curtains (Where could those have come from? Palutena doesn't know?) the people in charge of keeping the temple clean were doing their job now more than ever.

That was nice of them. Palutena wished they were doing it for nicer reasons. "Hmm." Palutena hummed.

Another wave of human prayers reached her. They were the same sort of prayers and messages she started receiving a little bit after Hades' defeat. Back when she started to pay attention to them again, when the threat of the Underworld was no longer a crushing weight on her mind.

She was so happy to finally get back to granting and hearing the wishes of Humans.

Until she actually started hearing them again.

_'Oh, Great Goddess Palutena! Please have mercy on us.'_

_'Our Lady Palutena I beseech you, spare our lives.'_

_'I don't want to die.'_

_'Great Goddess of Light why...why did you take them away...?'_

But by now Palutena was used to them. She didn't like hearing them, but she was used to them.

What else could she do about it other than listen and grant their prayers?

And of course, she was going to grant them. The ones asking her to not kill them were the easiest ones. It wasn't like Palutena was going to go on another rampage any time soon. "...Stupid bug." Palutena crushed a chip in her hand, the crumbs unceremoniously fell to the floor. Oh well, that was a problem for future and guaranteed to be in a better mood Palutena.

Palutena moved her All-Seeing Eye closer to the center of the town where more and more people were starting to gather. It looked like The Seaside Town was in for another fun Goddess of Light celebration. All across town people were hanging up decorations, talking among each other, and setting up their special shops. Shops ranging from food to small souvenirs, and even some that were dedicated to toys. _A lot_ of kids were going to attend the festival after all.

"Lady Palutena!"

"HURK!" at the sound of Pit's voice Palutena's reflexes kicked in and the All-Seeing Fountain quickly shut off. The chips that she clumsily dropped inside rose to the surface.

Palutena looked up from staring at the mess she made to see Pit happily standing at the doorway to her throne room, waiting for the cue to enter. As always. "Yes, Pit? Do you need something?" Palutena could vaguely recall giving him clear orders that morning to clean up the new garden Pit asked they could start using again. Palutena agreed, thinking ahead to today and not thinking about much else. She was positive that Pit would keep himself busy with the garden all day, and that the greenhouse would drown out the noise of the festival happening below them.

"W_eeeeelll..._" Pit dropped a bucket full of weeds and dirt on the floor, clearly not thinking about the consequences of his actions. As soon as the bucket hit the floor more than a handful of plants and dirt scattered all over the floor. Palutena was sure Pit was just too engrossed in his oncoming question to notice the mess he made.

She was right, because at this point Pit was too excited to care.

"I finished cleaning the garden early! And guess what! Guess what!?"

"...Wh_aaaa_t?" Palutena gripped the sides of the fountain, praying to whatever out there granted the prayers of Gods that Pit wasn't about to ask what she dreaded hearing from him year upon year.

"Today is the festival of The Goddess of Light! Isn't that great?"

Palutena's dread lingered. She knew what was coming next.

"Last year you said we could go next year and that's today! S_oooo_...? When are we going!? Do I have to get ready?! Oh man, I'm gonna get to look at so much cool stuff! And I'm gonna make sure to tell everyone about how cool you are! Oh-! Do you think they'll recognize me from when I defeated Hades?!"

While Pit excitedly went off about what he was going to do at the festival Palutena looked down at the fountain as if it would have an answer to her problem. Instead all it had was a reflection of her own face, looking desperate for any sort of answer or an escape. It was the same face she looked down to see last year, and the year before that, and even the year before that.

Pit would beg and cry to visit the surface and celebrate among the Humans during the festival of The Goddess of Light. Then Palutena would wrestle with herself to come up with an answer that would leave them both happy.

But year after year, Palutena's answer was the same, and a failure.

"You're not going, Pit."

Pit's smile didn't waver. He just must have heard Lady Palutena wrong, that's all. "I...b-but you said..."

"I'm sorry, Pit. But right now, I can't send you down there. Maybe...Maybe next time." Palutena didn't want to lie to him, but it was necessary. The truth was that there would be no next time he could go, but she was convinced that giving Pit a brief moment of hope was better than leaving him completely heartbroken.

Right?

"O-Okay...Right. I'm sorry for bothering you Lady Palutena."

Palutena didn't dare look up from her fountain, she didn't have the strength in her to look at a disheartened Pit. Especially when his wishes had been crushed year after year.

She heard his soft footsteps head outside. It was only when they completely faded into silence did Palutena find the courage to look up to find Pit and his bucket full of hard work, gone. A couple of dandelions on the ground were all that remained as evidence of Pit's visit.

Even in his despair Pit took the time to clean up.

"I'm so sorry..."

Palutena didn't want to keep making Pit sad every year, but it was the only way to keep him safe from the nightmare the surface world had recently become.

...When it came to him.

Palutena knew that, if Pit were to set foot or even show himself for the humans now, the results would be disastrous. Or possibly even deadly.

She sighed as the cold wind hit her, along with another prayer.

_'That accursed angel...I pray that they suffer as much as they've made me suffer!'_

* * *

**-theres two flashbacks in this and im sorry and...well actually theres more but...-**

Palutena didn't have to walk far to find out where Pit ran off to. He'd left the doors to the temple open after he left, a sloppy move on his part.

Pit was slouched and leaning over one of the temple's many safety railings. The very same ones that were installed with him in mind. He was looking down at the Overworld, entranced by the festival's bright lights.

More often than not, the lights of nearby villages or towns were nowhere near bright enough for their lights to shine all the way up to Skyworld. During festivals however, the lights and sometimes even the sounds (if the night was quiet enough) reached the eyes and ears of Skyworld's denizens easily.

Pit wanted to hate it, but if Humans were having fun, he couldn't

"Pit..." Palutena could easily read the storm of emotions Pit was feeling. Even if he could not. The way that Pit scratched at the railing and anxiously flapped his wings every few seconds, it was almost too easy to tell that he was upset. Not with her of course, but with something else. Or someone. Just never with her, she knew him too well. She would prefer that he be mad at her, it would make things easier.

"_Would going to the festival really be so bad?" _The question bounced around Palutena's head, in the end what was the worst thing that could happen?

...Okay, well there was a lot of bad things that could happen. But Pit was a tough Angel he could handle himself!

In the many years they've known each other Palutena slowly learned to never underestimate Pit, especially in battle. However, a battle with the Underworld army and the danger of running into a Human who held a personal vendetta against him were completely different things.

Palutena knew Pit could strike down an Underworld enemy without a second thought if it meant being able to save others from it. If Palutena learned anything else from her years of raising Pit, it was that his compassion was one of his greatest strengths. But as cliché as it sounded, it was also his greatest weakness.

Palutena was positive, that if Pit were attacked by humans. He would not fight back.

_'If I could...I would tear that Angel apart!'_

Palutena was terrified of what would happen after that. She didn't even want to think about it.

There was no way in this life or the next that she would let Pit visit the human world. Not for another millennium or so. Or maybe even longer, as long as it would take. Until Palutena was sure he would come back to her.

Palutena had no idea how long she could keep Pit in the dark of why she was keeping him up in Skyworld. It was for his own safety, but Palutena wanted to try and keep the harsh reality of what the Humans now thought of him a secret from him as long as she could.

Palutena blinked and looked up from her gripped hands. She zoned out into her own thoughts again, the prayers of Humans in the town taking a back seat to her own worries. They would be alright, she would just file them for later. As usual.

Maybe now she could start on the grueling task of trying to cheer Pit up from his bitter disappointment. Better to start now than later, Palutena figured.

The past few years she told Pit he couldn't go to the Goddess of Light festival she usually waited until the morning after to try and cheer him up. All it took was a delicious take-out breakfast and Pit was smiling and cracking jokes like nothing ever happened. Or at least he acted like it.

This time however, Palutena had a sinking feeling that a deluxe breakfast wasn't going to cut it. This was now the eighth year in a row she crushed his dreams after promising them the year before. Pit, no matter how polite he was (or tried to be), was still a teenager. A teenager with some underlying complicated feelings if Dark Pit was anything to go by. And impatience was most likely one of those feelings.

...Maybe a fancy dinner and some video games would cheer him up. Pit always liked doing that with her on Palutena's rare free time. Recently while he cleaned the temples Pit telepathically talked Palutena's ear off about a fun new game he bought. It was called...Three Horses, or something. No doubt Pit would love having an audience watching him play and read things for him when he needed it.

With a fresh plan in mind Palutena readied herself with a full script of what she was going to say and looked up, hoping that Pit was still near the railing looking at the festival.

He in fact was, just not where Palutena expected him to be.

Pit was still on the railing. However, now he was standing on top of it doing his best to balance on it while looking down at the festival under him.

"_**Piiiiit**_!" before Palutena could even consider the possibility that screaming could shock Pit to the point of him losing his balance, or that she could use the Power of Flight to safely lower him down, she found herself warping right behind him.

Pit noticed a flash of white behind him. He turned his head to see what that could have been, but even the simple act of turning his head was enough to knock him off balance. Pit threw his hands out to sides to try and regain his lost balance, but it was too late and he found himself falling backwards.

"Lady Palute-?!" right into Palutena's arms. Which knocked both of them down onto the hard marble ground.

"Aaah!" Pit was the first of the two to get up, "Lady Palutena I am SO sorry! I-I didn't mean to knock you down! Its just that-! You really surprised me and I-I...I guess I fell back but I d-didn't mean to! I'm sorry!" he ran around her in a panic trying to collect his words together to form a coherent apology.

"Pit. Pit! Calm down I'm fine I'm just-!"Palutena pushed herself up from the ground. Pit took a step back in surprise. He looked down and held his hands behind his back and his wings instinctually positioned themselves to cover his guilty face.

"Pit, you don't need to do that. Like I said, its fine." Palutena gently pushed Pit's wings away from his face. Though the wings were now pushed aside Pit was still refusing to look Palutena in the eye.

"I'm sorry Lady Palutena..."

Palutena smiled, "For what?"

"For knocking you down! A-And bothering you with my dumb question and rushing my gardening job! I don't think I'm cut out for that sorta stuff...Every flower I picked ended up falling apart!"

"Uh, Pit...I didn't send you to garden. Just to clean up!"

"...Oh."

"And did you do that?"

Pit grinned, a contrast to the sad expression he was wearing seconds earlier. "Yup! All the flowers are gone and all the _weeeeiiird_ plants were thrown away! Just like you asked!"

"Thank you, Pit. I knew I could count on you!"

"It was nothing! Really!" Pit laughed and blushed a light pink. Even after years of earning praise from Palutena he was still as embarrassed about it as he had been on day one. At least, that was the case when her praise had nothing to do with fighting or defending the heavens.

"By the way-" before Pit could finish his own question he froze.

"Hmm?" Palutena raised a brow in confusion. "Pit? Do you have a question? Don't forget I am all-knowing so you can ask me anything!"

"Hmm?" Pit repeated, without meaning to of course. Whether he or Palutena noticed it or not, Pit ended up parroting a lot of Palutena's little movements and vocal cadences. "Sorry Lady Palutena." Pit continued, "I was thinking about something else." Pit tugged on his tunic at the last word, trying hard to push the unsavory thought of his head.

He should stop thinking about that thing, especially now that Lady Palutena was here. What would she say if she knew Pit was still thinking about _that_?

"Pit?" Palutena was no fool, she knew exactly what Pit meant when he said he was thinking of 'something else.' While Pit was keeping himself busy looking down at his sandals, Palutena eyed the festival that was happening under them. "You still want to go down to the festival, don't you?" she said, her stare was cold and at the same time understanding, and it was staring right through Pit.

Pit gasped and his eyes meet Palutena's. As soon as they did however, he instantly regretted it. He couldn't look away fast enough, Pit hated seeing that sort of look on her. That was the familiar stare of a Goddess who knew exactly what he was thinking and how he was feeling. "I-I...No, no I'm not." he said, his wings twitching slightly.

The silence between them grew, to the point the sounds of the festival began to reach them. The sound of children's laughter echoed in Pit's ears and he was tempted to jump right into the fun. But he couldn't do that, he shouldn't do that.

The captain of Lady Palutena's guard isn't allowed do that. So, naturally he had to stop thinking about it.

But...

But, he couldn't.

"Pit?" Palutena asked him again, demanding his attention.

"Huh-? Oh! Uh..." Pit looked up sheepishly at her, tugging on the skirt of his tunic. His head was running through all sorts of different lies he could tell Lady Palutena in case she asked what was on his mind. He knew it was bad to lie but sometimes lies were necessary. Pit heard Lady Palutena say that once so it must be true, and this seemed like a good a time as any to lie.

Palutena's expression softened, "Are you lonely?" she finally asked. "A-Am I...?" that was not the sort of question Pit expected. At all.

There was no lie for this one. There was no way out but to tell the truth.

"No? I don't think so." why would he ever be lonely? Pit had the Centurions _and_ Lady Palutena to talk to. That was all he ever had his entire life and that was all he was ever going to need and now he even had Pittoo! So he was extra not lonely!

...Buuuuut when Pittoo told Pit that he might have to cancel their biweekly video game session because of a rumor around the Fortress of Nature that Viridi was planning a special mission, Pit felt a strange pang in his chest.

He immediately asked Pittoo if he could tag along just like the last mission Viridi sent Pittoo and Phosphora on, but Viridi herself interrupted the telepathic call to deny Pit permission to come.

_'You caused enough trouble last time for a lifetime! __**Please**__ just stay in Skyworld where you belong!'_

Pittoo apologized and that was the last Pit heard of that.

Pit let Palutena know what Pittoo told him and other than a private conversation with Viridi about the details of the mission she didn't pry any further. A part of Pit secretly hoped that Palutena would have pestered Viridi enough to let him come along on the mission.

To Pit's disappointment, that didn't happen.

Of course, he didn't mind though! Pit was in Skyworld, his home! With Lady Palutena and the Centurions, just like always! He was more than happy to be happy in his home with the people he loved.

Another cheer from the festival rang in Pit's ears and his lie continued to fall apart.

Even through Pit's messy memories he could still vaguely remember the festival of the Goddess of Light was always a big celebration, even in Skyworld.

Pit still had muddy memories of streamers and all sorts of decorations adorning the temple. Centurions of all sizes flew around dropping confetti everywhere they could, shouting praises for the Goddess of Light. Pit was positive that the last time this happened he was still around the same height as he was now. Give or take a few inches of hair.

He remembered Palutena dressing up in her best outfit and brushing his hair so that he could look his best too. Pit could still even recall how they would laugh and joke about what the best takeout food they could order from for dinner would be. And even how Pit would sit on Lady Palutena's throne and watch her listen and grant prayers from her throne room, his eyes slowly drooping closed until he fell asleep and he felt Lady Palutena carry him to his room.

_'Goodnight, Pit. Thank you for everything.' _She would say.

Pit held his tunic in a deathly grip. His face felt warm.

"I miss it..." Pit mumbled. Palutena guessed that not even he heard himself say it, otherwise Pit would have been backtracking it the moment the words left his mouth. But now, Pit confirmed what Palutena suspected.

He missed celebrating alongside her as much as she missed celebrating with him.

The sting of not being able to be with his brother was probably not making the ordeal any easier. Pittoo and Pit had only grown closer and closer over the years and Palutena was positive that if Pittoo were here alongside him, Pit wouldn't be paying the festival any mind. Aside from pouring out all the details about it to Pittoo, who more than likely wouldn't care for it but would still hear his brother out to make him happy.

And as much as Palutena could try, she could not replace Pittoo. She couldn't even try.

The two Angels shared a special connection, one that went far beyond the Mirror of Truth. They understood each other and grew to see themselves as friends and brothers. Palutena couldn't fill that void. Palutena could not be a rambunctious 13-year-old Angel who got in trouble alongside Pit.

She was eternally Palutena, the Goddess of Light and Pit's maternal Goddess and his mentor. The Goddess who scolded him when he did something rude or wrong and that always made sure he escaped every battle safe and sound. She was Pit's protector as much as Pit was her's.

...Which was why Palutena could not believe what she was about to say next.

Palutena sighed, and gently put a hand on Pit's shoulder. He flinched at her touch, scared that did something wrong again.

"Pit?" Palutena began asking.

"Y-Yes?"

"Would you like to go to the Goddess of Light festival in the town?"

Pit's eyes widened and his mouth opened and closed over and over while he tried to find the right words to say. He finally decided on a simple answer, "Yes!" he yelled, his wings rapidly flapping behind him in excitement. He jumped away from Lady Palutena's grasp and began spinning around in pure happiness, cheering and babbling on about how much fun he was going to have.

"Oh!" he froze mid-spin to look at Palutena,"Lady Palutena! You should come to! It'll be way more funner if you come to!"

In truth, Palutena was already planning to accompany him. There was no way she was going to send Pit down to the surface without someone to watch over him. And whether she liked it or not, that someone was her.

"Of course I'll come with you! I wouldn't miss it for the world!" Palutena clapped her hands together and smiled.

Pit, now with confirmation that Palutena was coming along, continued his celebration. He ran to the side of the railing and leaned on it looking down at the festival under them. "When are we leaving?! Can we go now?! Wait! Do we have to get ready? Ah! Do you have to brush my hair?!" Pit began to mess with the hair under his laurel crown. He couldn't remember if he brushed it this morning or not, it might look like a mess.

Palutena laughed and shook her head, "No Pit, your hair is fine. As for when we're leaving..." A bright flash of light illuminated the area around them. Unfortunately, Pit looked away a second too late, the flash of light temporarily made him see splotches of all sorts of different colors.

Once the light faded away Palutena's staff was in her hands,

"Does leaving now work for you?"

"Y-Yeah! Of course!" Pit ran to Lady Palutena's side and straightened up, ready to teleport alongside her. Palutena looked down and him and smiled.

As long as she was by his side Pit would be alright, wouldn't he?

_'That damned angel! I want him dead!'_

Palutena raised her staff to get ready to teleport them both down, but before she could do that, she felt an impact at her side. "Oh!" looking down she saw Pit hugging her, as tight as he could.

_'If I get my hands on that Angel, I'll pluck out its feathers one by one!_

"Thank you, Lady Palutena!" Pit said looking up to face her.

_'It took everything from me...it should die! The Angel deserves to die!'_

Palutena smiled, using her free hand to pat Pit's head. He smiled and let out a soft laugh and then hugged her back again. Pit really couldn't thank her enough. Lady Palutena didn't need to do this for him! But here she was! Pit was happy, he was so happy!

_'I swear I'll avenge you all! That Angel will pay!'_

"Anything for you, Pit."

* * *

**-i painfully try to describe clothing for a few paragraphs or so-**

On a nearby hill in front of an abandoned temple dedicated to the Goddess of Darkness and far away from the sounds and sights of the festival, a beam of light descended from the sky.

Once the beam of light faded away, two strangers stood in its place. Or...they were supposed to look like complete strangers.

Now on the surface, Palutena took the time to adjust her tunic and tighten the ponytail she now wore. She looked down to get a better look at her new clothes. Her usual Goddess attire had been traded for a simple grey tunic tied with a belt, underneath it was a white skirt with some comfy brown boots to tie the disguise together.

It was an odd look for her, but Palutena couldn't help but be secretly relived she could walk around without any of her bangles weighing her down. It was always her choice to keep wearing them of course, but at this point it would just be awkward if she decided to suddenly stop wearing them now.

"Uh-excuse ma'am? Have you seen...uh...someone else around here?"

Palutena turned around quickly, ready to snap whoever dared to call her ma'am in half.

Instead of finding someone who clearly didn't know any better, she was staring right at Pit. "I mean...I think Lady Palutena might have teleported me somewhere else. Or maybe she did it by accident? Lady Palutena does things by accident a lot..."

Before Pit could dig himself into an even deeper hole, Palutena spoke up. "Pit! It's me! Palutena!"

"Huh? Lady Palutena?! Is that really you!?" Pit stared at the mysterious and very old looking woman. He looked her up and down, but nothing stood out to him as 'Lady Palutena-ish.'

Her clothes were totally different! And her bright green hair turned itself into a darker shade, almost looking black thanks to the dark of the night. Even her tacky looking jewelry was missing!

"Not a bad disguise right? I made them myself, mine and yours." Palutena walked to Pit and adjusted the shirt collar of Pit's very own disguise.

For the first time since they'd been teleported to the surface Pit noticed he wasn't in his usual outfit either. Pit wasn't used to wearing other colors so the red sleeveless shirt he was now wearing immediately stood out to him. There was also a familiar red jewel near his chest. Along with that he also wore a pair of old looking brown shorts and shoes. They looked like they'd been sitting in the closet for too long. The very last thing he took note of was his missing bracelets, instead they were replaced with white bandages. That was weird.

Pit frowned, a little unsure of the whole outfit. This was a large misconduct in the Angel's Code of Conduct, but if Lady Palutena was the one that decided to magically change his uniform he supposed it was fine.

Lady Palutena must have put a lot of thought into it.

Now finished adjusting Pit's buttoned shirt and the special jewel Palutena stepped back and admired her fashionable handiwork. "This way we can both walk around as much as we want! You didn't think we could just run down here as the Goddess of Light and an Angel, did you?"

Pit did think that. In fact, he was sure that he and Lady Palutena would go down to the festival and celebrate along with the Humans. Then the Humans would turn to Pit and Palutena and thank them a million times for defending Humanity for so many years. After that all the people who sold food would shower Pit in free snacks and maybe they would give Pit a million video games too!

Wait. Did Humans have video games yet? Pit wasn't keeping track as much as he would have like to admit.

* * *

**-just pop off the wings as easy as taking them off a pit figma-**

"There's one last thing."

"Huh?" what in the world could Lady Palutena have forgotten?

"Your wings!"

"Huh?!"

"You can't go walking around town with them! You would be caught as an Angel in no time!"

Pit gasped and turned around to see if his wings were still on his back. It took several more turns for him to realize that turning around and fully seeing his wings would be impossible for him. A little more turns than he would have liked to admit.

He ultimately gave up and looked back to Lady Palutena. A few stray white feathers around him and a quick glimpse or two was enough proof that yes, his wings were still on his back. That and he could clearly flap and move them and feel them, but out of sight out of mind, right?

"W-Well what are we gonna do?" Pit hoped that whatever idea Lady Palutena came up with was more on the magical side of things then on the...painful side. But Lady Palutena would never do something like that, he assured himself.

"That's easy!" Palutena walked closer to Pit, who was growing increasingly worried beyond his better reasoning.

Before Pit could finish his anxious thoughts on how one could easily get rid of wings, he felt his laurel crown being grabbed. '_I still have it on?_' Pit figured that his laurel crown would be gone along with the rest of his outfit, but he never noticed it was still on _'Right...Out of sight out of mind.'_ he was so used to wearing his laurel crown he felt it was just a part of his head by now.

"I just have to..." Palutena moved Pit's laurel crown from its usual position to another. Now it resembled more of a headband than a crown, "Ah-ha!"

In an instant Pit's wings magically disappeared from his back, as if they were never there to begin with.

"There we go! It worked!"

"Worked?"

Just before Pit started another round of trying to turn around in circles for another awkward couple of seconds while Palutena could do nothing but watch while suppressing her laughter, she grabbed hold of his shoulders began to explain. "As long as you wear your laurel crown like this." she lightly flicked the laurel crown headband, "Then your wings are as invincible as mine! For tonight at least."

"Oooh...!" At the very least he understood that his wings were invisible but still very much where they always were. How Lady Palutena managed to make them invisible was still beyond his understanding. Lady Palutena's magic was always so complicated. Secretly Pit was relieved he would never have to learn anything like that.

Give him a weapon and bad guys to fight over handling miracles and powers any day.

* * *

**-is all the build up going to be worth it? is this even build up?-**

"Alright! Now that we've taken care of that..." Palutena clapped her hands together and turned to look at The Seaside Town. The festival was still underway and would be going well into the night if past Human festivals proved anything. If there was anything humans liked doing, it was overdoing.

Palutena hoped that Pit would get tired of the festival quickly. For someone with so many accomplishments under his belt Pit still had a surprisingly small amount of stamina. Palutena guessed they would be back home in at least an hour, tops. Two hours if the food was good.

Palutena looked back at the Angel in question, he was looking at her with a look that was screaming at her to finally give the go ahead that they could...go ahead.

Palutena smiled, it was typical of Pit to always wait for her approval to do least...he did when she was around to see it, or when he was sure there would be consequences if Palutena knew about he was doing.

Once Pit started to stomp his feet and bounce impatiently in place Palutena decided to take the plunge.

If Pit was going to have fun, how bad could this festival really be? Surrounded by Humans that hated and feared her was nothing when compared to the happiness of her bravest champion. Pit was swaying side to side now, trying to distract himself now. In total a record breaking three minutes had passed since Palutena adjusted his laurel crown.

Finally Palutena cleared her throat and Pit froze. "Are you ready to go Pit?" she asked him. If Palutena just concentrated on how happy Pit was, the danger felt like it was a whole other dimension away.

"You know it!" Pit answered, all his built-up excitement letting itself out with a leap into the air.

"Then lets go-" before Pit could take a single step Palutena raised her hand to stop him, "Slowly! You don't want to trip and ruin all my hard work, do you?"

Pit then took the slowest steps he possibly could.

Palutena watched as Pit slowly put one foot in front of the other at the speed of the slowest thing you could possibly imagine. No, even slower than that. "Are you trying to be smart with me?"

"Um, I'm always smart, Lady Palutena!"

"Ah. never mind." he really didn't know any better.

"That's right! How could I forget?!" Palutena couldn't believe she'd forgotten something absolutely crucial to their disguises! She heard Pit give a small groan and stomp his foot into the dirt, but there would be time to lecture him about patience later.

"This is important! We need fake names!"

"I don't really think we need fake names..."

"Well you can't walk around and call me 'Lady Palutena' can you? That would blow our covers!"

"I..I guess so?"

"Hmm..." while Palutena could easily create human disguises in her mind for the both of them (she was a self-certified fashion expert!) fake names were a lot more complicated. Her own fake name would have to be something easy for Pit to remember but not sound too close to 'Lady Palutena.' Pit would no doubt accidentally say that instead if it did.

Try as she might Palutena just couldn't come up with any good ones. Atena was a top contender but that was just her name but cut up into pieces! That wasn't creative at all!

Instead she decided to move on to Pit's fake name. Coming up with one for him was almost too easy!

"How about Kuro?"

"**No**."

Palutena laughed nervously "R-Right! I was only kidding of course!" Pit rejected that suggestion surprisingly fast.

Even worse, that was the only idea she came up with.

The idea of fake names was quickly dropped and forgotten about when a loud firework went off behind Pit. "Wow! Lady Palutena look at that!" Pit excitedly pointed at the firework as it disappeared into the night sky.

The festival was drawing him in now more than ever. If there were fireworks there, then who knows what other cool things were in store for him and Lady Palutena?! They were going to have so much fun! "Come on! Come on!" Pit tugged on Palutena's arm, his bold move surprised even her. "Lady Palutena let's go! Let's go!"

Palutena sighed and let herself be pulled along. She silently braced herself for the worst.

* * *

**-no I do not know how they have fireworks I JUST WANTED FIREWORKS-**

Pit often thought himself as being all grown-up. He was a full 13 Human and (?4)Angel years old now! Surely that meant he was old enough to stay home alone _**and**_ watch horror movies late at night.

He'd seen and been through a lot of dangerous stuff already, he faced thousands of Underworld monsters and been finished lots of times! Not to mention, he saved Skyworld twice now! Maybe...three times? Pit couldn't remember _that_ adventure very well.

But his faulty memory wasn't the point!

The point was that he was sure he _**didn't**_ need Lady Palutena to hold his hand while they both walked down a hill together to the festival.

"Hmph!" Pit deliberately walked slowly, his back slightly slouched as Palutena dragged him along by the hand. He'd already been warned three times along the way that Angels shouldn't slouch or pout, and they especially shouldn't do both.

"You want to make a good first impression on the Humans, don't you?"

"Of course!"

"Then quit pouting!" Palutena pinched his cheek while telling him this. "The brave hero of Skyworld shouldn't be this grumpy or covered in grass stains either!" it was just a few moments ago that Pit tried to run off by himself and as a result almost tripped.

He was caught in the nick of time by Lady Palutena herself.

After that harrowing ordeal, Palutena suggested that this time they could walk _slowly_ to the town together. Pit agreed, but before he could take a single step Palutena had already taken his hand and started walking.

Pit didn't find Palutena's behavior odd. Not at first. Almost falling down and being caught by her was expected. Pit could recall dozens of instances when Palutena would appear, seemingly out of nowhere to catch him after his many attempts of flying on his own.

Pit knew that he and Palutena were somewhere different so things were bound to be a little dangerous, but how dangerous could a festival really be? Especially when it's a Human festival, Humans were harmless! They couldn't do anything to hurt him and he wouldn't let anything happen to Lady Palutena!

He was her Captain of the Guard after all! He was supposed to be protecting her!

Pit speed up his steps to catch up to Palutena, now walking side by side to her. "Lady Palutena?" he asked.

"Yes, Pit?" Palutena answered, her gaze remained locked straight ahead.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"I mean...you've been acting kinda weird since, like, we got here."

Palutena smiled off Pit's concern and kept up a steady pace while walking, but everything in her screamed to stop.

She should have figured Pit would sense something wrong from the moment they landed on the surface. It was naive of her to think he would let her odd behavior slide. She really hoped that the sights and the sounds of the festival would have distracted Pit enough that she could get away with her real feelings towards being here.

In reality, even with disguises and her tunnel vision of Pit's excitement, Palutena was beyond terrified even being on the surface. Both for her and Pit. Obviously she could hold her own against most anything and anyone if something went wrong, but she never planned any sort of excuses for her behavior so far.

Luckily Palutena was a great actress and improv was one of her specialties. Allegedly.

"I-err...What do you mean?! I'm perfectly fine! See?! We're walking to the festival just like you wanted."

"I meant l-like you seem kinda...I don't know..."

"Weird? Do you think I'm weird, Pit?"

Pit jumped back, letting go of Palutena's hand in the process. "N-No! Not at all Lady Palutena! I'm-!" Pit thought about any other word he could use to describe how Palutena was acting so far, but there was no denying it. Palutena was right, she'd been acting weird all day! From asking Pit to clean the new garden all afternoon to almost instantaneously changing her mind about going to the festival but then acting like she didn't even want to be here. It was hitting all the criteria for weird.

"Pit. Pit. Pit, you know you can't hide anything from me."

"...Uh."

"But don't worry-!" Palutena affectionately ruffled his hair, making sure not to move his laurel headband out of its crucial position. "I'm just...a little nervous. That's all."

Pit looked up at Palutena, she didn't look like she was lying. Then again, she never did. "Nervous?"

"Mm-hmm! This whole festival is for me after all! Its sort of like going to my own birthday party isn't it! Why, who knows what embarrassing things people will say about me here!"

"Is that all?! Aw come on Lady Palutena! You're great! I bet everyone here has a ton of great stuff to say about you! Its like I said, everyone loves the Goddess of Light!"

"And that's what I'm afraid of." Yes. That was it. Really.

After that small conversation, and after Pit's suspicions were quelled for the moment, they resumed their walk to the town.

This time Palutena let Pit walk a little ahead of her while she walked behind, observing and making sure she was still in arms reach just in case anything happened.

* * *

**-what does a festival look like in pseudo-kinda ancient greece? i dont know!-**

The rest of the walk was fairly uneventful. The only interruption being the occasional question from Pit, asking Palutena what she thought would be at the festival.

"Do you think they have games?! Or food?!"

For every question Pit asked, Palutena gave him an answer as always. One doesn't just live for thousands of years and NOT know what goes on at a festival.

"They have plenty of games and food! Sometimes they can go a little overboard with both, if I'm being honest."

"No way! You can never have too much food or games!"

Pit's questions only increased the closer they got to the town. The number of people around them also increased the closer they got. Palutena considered holding on to Pit again to not lose him in the crowd, and they hadn't even reached the actual town yet.

However, the atmosphere of the festival did reach them as the sound of the crowd was finally enough to drown out some of Pit's questions.

It was only a matter of time before Pit and Palutena would cross into the town.

Palutena gulped, she reassured herself that nothing would go wrong, she was her to make sure of it. She and Pit would have their fun and come back home safe and sound. Just like the dozens of festivals and parties in the heavens Palutena went to, before-

"Woah! Lady Palutena look at all of this!"

"H-Hold on, Pit!" Palutena held out her hand in vain to stop Pit from running on ahead without her, but the allure of lit up streets and food stands proved to be no match against her orders. She couldn't blame Pit for being so excited. If things were any different Palutena would be running right next to Pit, taking in the sights and sounds of the town alongside him.

"Pit..." Palutena tried her best to keep up as Pit skipped down a set of stone steps that lead into the town.

The crowd around and near the steps might as well have been invisible because Pit was so excited he bumped into several people on the way down. The Goddess of Light followed just behind him, apologizing to the stunned children and adults that Pit pushed himself past. "I'm sorry-he's just excited! Its his..." Palutena's voice trailed off, _'Its his first festival.'_ she wanted to say, but that wasn't true at all.

The truth would have been something more along the lines of, _'Its been a while since his last festival and he can't even remember those! This might as well be his first festival!'_ But now wasn't the time to think of what ifs and what could have been.

Thankfully for Palutena, Pit noticed he left her behind rather quickly.

He pushed himself past a completely different set of people to run back to her. "I'm sorry Lady Palutena! I shouldn't have run off so fast!" he held his hands together apologizing as fast as he could. Because despite being sorry for running off Pit still really wanted to get back to the festival. He only got a glace of it from the entrance he reached, but he was pretty sure he saw a food stand right before he decided to run back.

"Pit. Are you drooling?"

"...The butcher is selling fried chicken wings."

Palutena laughed and shook her head, "Okay Pit, then lets get going." she held out her hand and hoped that Pit would take it and lead her to where he wanted to go.

Pit looked up at Palutena with a pout.

"What's wrong, Pit? Are you too old to walk with me? Don't tell me I'm that embarrassing?"

"Yeah."

Palutena froze. She...She hadn't expected an answer that blunt from Pit.

Pit continued to pout and put his hands on his hips, looking a Palutena with a new expression she'd never seen before.

There was a clear sense of defiance coming from his eyes. It was something she wasn't used to seeing in Pit. "I'm old enough to walk by myself! And its just over there too!" Pit pointed to a set of food stalls to the right of the entrance of the town.

Palutena brought up a finger to her mouth, in deep thought. Maybe she _**was**_ being too overprotective. She never meant for Pit to feel like he couldn't do anything by himself. All Palutena wanted to do was protect him, that was it. Maybe she should put more trust in her Captain of the Guard...

"Lady Palutena?"

...then again if he kept calling her by her real name, Palutena couldn't let Pit run off on his own.

"Okay, Pit." she said agreeing with him.

"Really?! I can go explore the festival now?!" he couldn't believe it! Pit was finally going to get to go to a real Human festival and see what was so cool about them! ...Well, he was technically already at one, but being near the entrance of one and being in one was a totally different thing!

"Aw man, Lady Palutena I can't wait to see all the cool things they have in there!"

Palutena crossed her arms and patiently waited.

"I think I saw a place that was selling desserts too! Come on you just gotta see it!" Pit, the newly independent Angel who worked so hard to get permission to walk around on his own, tugged on Palutena's arm in an attempt to get her closer to the cool thing he saw earlier.

"Alright, alright. Lets go see what the festival has to offer, shall we?"

Pit let out a cheer and ran ahead, Palutena followed closely behind him. "One step at a time. Just one step at a time..." she whispered to herself, taking her first step into the town.

That one step turned into several more steps as Pit lead her through the town to the food stand he caught sight of earlier. The town around them was bursting to the brim in all sorts of decorations. Various decorations hung from homes and other buildings. There were even some people who took the extra initiative to please the Goddess of Light by leaving out small statues of her image surrounded by candles she herself made sure were kept lit.

As Palutena and Pit passed stand after stand, some of them selling food and others that were selling trinkets of some sort, the crowd around them seemed to just get bigger and bigger. People crowded and pushed themselves past them. Almost every human in the town seemed to be in their own little world, which Palutena guessed is what naturally happened when there was so much going on around them.

It was a luxury she desperately wished she could have.

"Lady Palutena? Are you okay?"

Pit's concerned voice snapped Palutena out of her thoughts. The young Angel was looking up at her, he wore an expression of worry over the Goddess' state of mind.

It didn't make much sense to him, Palutena told him nothing was wrong. "Lady Palutena? Are you still nervous?" Pit asked, and unbeknownst to him there were indeed several things wrong at that very moment in time. If you asked Palutena, Pit just being at the festival was wrong. Her being here didn't make things any better. It made things so much worse.

"I must have gotten lost in the excitement of the festival! Don't mind me." Palutena said with a smile she'd rehearsed for a thousand years. If Pit were paying more attention he might have noticed Palutena was wearing the same kind of smile she gave him when she told Pit that ghosts weren't real.

"It is a lot of people, huh?" for the first time since arriving at the festival Pit looked around at the sheer amount of people that were around them. It was no wonder Palutena wanted to keep him close by. If Palutena wasn't so observant Pit might have gotten lost in the crowd earlier. Then who knows where Pit might have ended up?

"It does seem like an oddly large amount of people doesn't it?" even having seen a countless amount festivals of years past and years before those, Palutena never recalled seeing so many people in the Seaside Town at once. It was just their luck. "Maybe all these people are from neighboring towns?"

"Do you think they came here for the food?!"

"I don't think humans would be capable of traveling miles on foot for just a chicken wing."

"I would!"

Palutena giggled, Pit was always one to think with his stomach first rather than his brain. "Believe me, I know you would."

True to his word Pit and Palutena walked what felt like miles to the food stand that first caught and refused to let go of Pit's attention. To the surprise of them both the stand was fairly empty, with most of the patrons walking right past in favor of other food stands around them.

"You have _**one**_ dog wander in and out of your shop for a week straight and suddenly no one wants to buy from you..." Palutena heard the butcher mumble to herself.

Just as Pit and Palutena walked up to ask if she was open for business the Butcher, turned cook for the night, let out a cry of anguish that shocked the pair into quickly stepping back. "**Aaaaugh! **I'm ruined! This stuff doesn't come cheap you know?! It takes a long time!" she collapsed and wept into her arms, "Who do I have to ask for a miracle around here?" her voice trailed off, giving up all hope of ever making a profit ever again.

While Palutena was busy watching a grown woman cry, Pit slipped past her. He carefully walked up to the Butcher and lightly tapped her arm to get her attention. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"Who's there?" the Butcher meet the eyes of what she presumed to be a mother and her child passing by. "...What do you want?" clearly the mother lost track of their child in the chaos of the festival and the curious child wanted to know why she was crying out loud. Her own kid would have probably done the same thing, so to save the mom any extra headache she decided to play along.

"You said you wanted a miracle, right?" the child asked, tilting his head. The Butcher noticed his mother behind him gasp. She must have noticed he was missing, or something.

"Yeah? What about it?"

"You could ask Lady Palutena for a miracle! She's great at those!"

"Excuse me?"

Before Pit got a chance elaborate on what he meant his mouth was already covered and shut by Palutena's hand.

It was very odd to the Butcher that the woman somehow, in the blink of an eye, ended up next to her child but the Butcher waved it off. Being a mother herself she knew sometimes those things just, happened.

"What _he_ means to say is that-we're interested in buying something!"

Pit nodded, agreeing with what Palutena said. _'Lots of somethings!'_ he thought, knowing that Palutena would be able to hear him.

_'Pit. If you know we can talk telepathically why do you keep calling me __**Lady Palutena**__ out loud?'_

_'Cause that's your name? And uh...Lady Palutena? Can you take your hand off my mouth now?'_

_'Okay but please promise to let me do the talking.'_

_'Wh-'_

"Hey...? Is everything okay there?"

Pit and Palutena both looked at the Butcher, who did nothing but stare at the mother and child stand silently still while occasionally exchanging glances at each other. The Butcher was weirded out, but she didn't have any time to worry about anyone's off behavior. All she wanted was a clear answer, "Did...Did I hear you right about wanting to buy something?"

"Y-Yes!" Palutena clapped her hands together, "P-uuh..._He_ wanted to buy a little snack! And I just can't say no during such an exciting festival, can I?"

"I...guess not?" the Butcher looked over to the strange child and saw him bouncing excitedly while looking over all the products she displayed for the festival. He seemed to be extra fixated on the fried chicken wings. That was before he noticed the sliced ham in front of her, then started drooling (hypothetically) all over the other meat she was selling, of which I will not waste time listing and also because I don't know that many types of it.

The Butcher continued to stare wide eyed at the child and watched as he ran over to his mom and whispered into her ear. Whatever he was saying to her was apparently something the mom hadn't been expecting because she let out a loud gasp, grabbing the boy by his shoulders she leaned down and asked him, "Are you serious?"

The boy nodded and laughed, earning a groan from his mom. He must have asked for quite a lot of snacks.

With a big smile on his face Pit ran back up to the Butcher and slammed his hands down on the counter. The Butcher, too distracted by Pit's sudden movements didn't notice Palutena subtlety put her hands behind her back. A faint glow also coming from behind her back.

"I want all of it!" Pit yelled, raising his arms and jumping up and down in joy.

"You. **What?!**"

The Butcher's world slowed down to a crawl as she witnessed the mother walk up to her stand and drop more gold than she'd ever seen before in her life. Then hand a chicken wing to her son like it was nothing. "Wha-what-wha-wha-wha?" truly this was the least expected thing the Butcher expected to happen today.

She could do nothing but watch as the mother and son began taking all her food and took it...somewhere? The Butcher could have sworn it looked like the meat was just teleporting away, but her attention was too fixated on the colossal amount of gold that sat right in front of her.

"Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?" the Butcher kept repeating to herself. Even weirder than her sudden wealth was that the festival crowd seemed to just be walking past them without a word. Here she was, with a mother and child who were funding her for the next month and a half, and no one seemed to care!

Heck, the Butcher didn't care that she was getting paid so much. If a bandit got word that the mother was carrying around this much gold with her, she and her kid might be in terrible danger!

The Butcher couldn't in good conscience take all of this gold.

"I-I'm sorry I can't accept-!"

The Butcher pushed the gold back towards the mother, but before she could get it any closer the mother approached the Butcher again. With even more money. "-and there we go! That should be enough! I suppose the Centurions can take the last of the food..." Palutena made sure to mumble the reminder to herself. If Pit wasn't going to be secretive about their real identities the least she could do was be secretive enough for the both of them.

"Wh-What?! Wait, no I-?!"

Palutena turned to look at Pit, who was happily snacking on one of the dozen fried chicken wings he just bought, "And what do we say now?"

"Thank you! So much!" Pit said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh..." the Butcher looked at the little family in front of her. They looked so happy. And now that she looked closer at the money in front of her, the realization that someone paid her so much for her work sunk in. With this much she could afford to keep her and her kids feed and dressed. And sure, there was a lot, which was still worrying for her own safety but if she was a bandit or thief she sure wouldn't risk her life to steal it. Especially from her.

Maybe the mom saved up her money all year for this very occasion. No one from the upper crust of life would even bother visiting their town.

Whatever the case, she was happy to see the weird kid so happy.

"Well then, we'll be going! Thank you again!" Palutena pat pit on the back, a signal that they should really get going. Dusk was quickly turning into night and Palutena didn't want to keep Pit up past his already more than broken bedtime. "Huh-?! R-Right! See you!"

The Butcher weakly waved to her new customers as they walked away. The kid walked backwards facing her and waving back until the mother turned him around, presumably reminding him to watch where he was going.

Palutena took a quick look back at the bewildered Butcher. She managed to break out of her semi confused state and was now hastily trying to put away all the gold Palutena created herself.

Unfortunately, now that Palutena wasn't casting her Power of Ninjary to hide the three of them from the crowd the festival goers were now curiously eyeing the Butcher. The curious eyeing didn't last long before the Butcher looked at her knife and then at the starring crowd who started walking right past her after that.

"...I'm sure she'll be fine." Palutena wondered just how long that gold would last the woman. She'd long grown detached from the Humans she loved so much. There were so many of them now it was hard to keep track of who lived what life.

There were so many of them...

"Oh no! Lady Palutena! I'm sorry I didn't ask!"

"Huh?"

"Did you want some? I bought a lot after all." Pit sheepishly laughed and hovered a fried chicken wing near Palutena, "They're really good! I'm gonna eat so many of them once I get back! Aw man, I don't think we'll need take out for at least three days!"

Palutena laughed and took the snack from Pit's hand. "Thank you-" Palutena whipped her head from side to side, before slightly bending down to whisper in Pit's ear. "-Pit. But please try and remember we're here in disguise. So try _not_ to call me 'Lady Palutena.' Okay?" she straightened up and took a bite of her chicken wing, "Mmph! Got it, my dear pupil?"

"I got it Lady Palutena!"

"That was about what I expected..."

"Hmm?"

"Don't worry it!" Palutena laughed off Pit's innocence and lead him to the side of the road, where they wouldn't be in the way of the crowd trying to push past them. "Remember an Angel never inconveniences anyone! When they can at least." Palutena looked over at Pit who decided to sit on the ground. Despite Palutena earlier warning him that he would get his clothes dirty. She chalked it up to the festival being too loud for Pit to hear her orders.

"Uh huh..." Pit answered her, his attention was 100 percent focused on the Humans walking past. There were sure a lot of them, and it was his job to protect him all. If Pit's wings were still visible Palutena would have noticed them shake in anticipation. "That's a lot of pressure..."

"Hmm? Pit? Did you say something?"

"Uh-uh..."

Palutena and Pit sat for several minutes in silence, just watching the people go by. Pit must have eaten through at least ten chicken wings before Palutena put a stop to his snacking. "At this rate you're going to ruin your dinner!" she warned him, though considering where they were now this might as well have been his dinner. "Aw...Okay..." Pit sadly sighed, handing Palutena chicken wing number 11 so she could warp it back to Skyworld.

"Wait! What are we doing?!" Pit suddenly exclaimed. He jumped up to his feet and quickly looked around everywhere.

"There's still so much to see Lady Palutena! Come on! Come on!" Pit tugged on Palutena's long tunic again, pulling her towards her toward the crowd. Palutena gently grabbed Pit's arm and pulled it down and instead she stepped in front of him. If this was going to become a trend she felt safer being the one to lead Pit through the festival.

That way she would make sure she wouldn't be dragged to every food stand Pit saw. Maybe her personal funds would survive the night after all.

"Pumpkins! Get your pumpkins and pumpkin pastries!" a loud voice from down the road called out to the customers around her.

Pit looked at Palutena with the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster. "Lady Palutenaaaaa..."

"...Alright."

Palutena predicted that by the end of today Pit would single handedly fund every food vendor stores for the next few months or so.

* * *

**-****faith giveth away and faith taketh away****-**

"Thank you very much for your patronage!" the Candid Shopkeeper said, looking over the payment Palutena handed over in exchange for eleven of her pumpkin pastries.

That was only after Palutena pleaded with Pit to not order an entire shops worth of food again. Palutena still needed gold for herself and Pit's personal needs after all. Running Skyworld doesn't come cheap!

"Of course! And what do we say, Pit?"

"Mmmmppffhbha" Pit said, already well into eating his third pumpkin pastry.

"Aww! You're welcome!" the Candid Shopkeeper answered. She really hoped that the weird kid was thanking her, she didn't understand a word he just said to her.

Then as her customers prepared to turn around back into the crowd, she held out her hand to try and stop them. "Hey hold on!" Palutena and Pit curiously turned around back to the Candid Shopkeeper.

_'Lady Palutena did you forget something?'_

'_No, no I'm pretty sure I didn't. Hmm...'_

The Candid Shopkeeper smiled and intertwined her hands together, leaning on them. "Don't go just yet! I...I need to tell you something!" her smile wavered and a bead of sweat trickled down her face. This did not go unnoticed by Palutena who instinctually brought up her arm to protect Pit.

"Lady Palutena?" Pit whispered. This was just another one of Palutena's odd behaviors he'd noticed throughout the night.

Palutena decided to humor what the Candid Shopkeeper wanted to say, but only by herself. "Save a pumpkin pastry for me, okay Pit? Just give me a minute or two." She walked forward and gave Pit a pat on his shoulder, knowing that he would stay in place.

"Oh. Okay..." Pit bit down on the fifth pumpkin pastry and turned to occupy himself with watching the crowd while he left Palutena to do whatever it was she was going to do. There wasn't much he could to do stop her once her mind was made up, he knew that well enough.

Palutena wanted to wait until Pit was fully focused on the crowd in front of him until she left him alone, but once Pit turned his attention skyward to the stars Palutena suddenly felt comfortable enough to do just that. If only for a few minutes.

Palutena quickly turned and stepped back towards the surprisingly patient and Candid Shopkeeper. Palutena placed her hand on the shop's stand and began drumming her fingers on it, giving the Candid shopkeeper her most well-acted icy stares. "I really _REALLY_ don't have much time. With this whole festival and all, there's just so much to see and do! So, I hope you don't mind if I ask you to please hurry up?"

The Candid Shopkeeper gulped and strongly considered her decision to call out to the woman. She looked at the shopkeeper with such judgmental eyes that the shopkeeper felt she might as well be staring right into the eyes of a judgmental God.

Palutena nearly blew her cover laughing when she read the shopkeeper's thought.

"R-Right! I...um...Listen you and your kid seem like nice people so let me give you a little warning. Ex-heir to you!"

"Ex-heir?"

The Candid Shopkeeper made the conscious decision to not elaborate on what Palutena asked. "Just listen closely! The more you walk around the more you'll probably hear some other people shout at you to buy some _weird_ items."

"What do you mean?"

"They'll try to sell some things that are supposed to ward off the Goddess of Light and her evil minions."

Palutena took in a shaky breath.

"Pfft, but if you ask me they're just trying to rip people off. Really the lot of them are just a bunch of greedy worshipers and scam artists trying to profit off of people's fears." the Candid Shopkeeper glanced to her side, not noticing the wide-eyed stare that Palutena was giving her.

Palutena's arms were shaking. The shopkeeper continued, "Don't get me started on the consequences if they're real! If the Goddess of Light found we were making things like that don't you think she would send her wrath down on us again?! Those people are just asking for trouble! If they keep this up, in the end all of us are going to pay with our lives."

"...I-I see."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you or anything. Just...didn't wanna get you and your kid into trouble. H-Hey, maybe when the Goddess comes back and wipes us all out, I'll get a nicer death than everyone else!" she winked at the woman, "Aside from a few things here and there I've been pretty good!"

The Candid Shopkeeper's laugh blended into the sound of the crowd. Palutena sensed the shopkeeper's positives intents even without her staff and All-Seeing Eye. She was genuinely trying to help, but to Palutena it just made everything so much more worse.

Even her worshipers lost faith in her. The worst of them even resorting to making items that existed just to repel her and her powers.

Palutena quickly put two and two together. She was entierly clueless on the existence of these items, which could only have meant that

They were working.

The Candid Shopkeeper might have thought them to be fake, nothing more than a scam to make a quick buck or two. Which most of them might have been, but even a broken clock is right at least twice a day. Some Humans, believers or not, figured out how to fight back against her powers even if it was something as simple as blocking her All-Seeing Eye.

Palutena felt sick. She could feel her eyes slowly giving in to the tears she wanted to shed since the day the Chaos Kin first showed itself.

Her humans, who she protected for years and sacrificed almost everything for, hated her. even worse, they feared her.

All it had taken was a few years and all the trust she had built up with them. Collapsed.

_'The goddess of light...What reasoning did she have to slaughter us all like that?'_

_'Sending her army down to fight us? Wasn't she brave enough to face us herself?'_

Imagining her body, with her voice, giving out the orders to attack towns and the Humans living there filled her with a disgusting sense of dread.

But she didn't have to imagine it. She was there after all. For three whole years.

Every order to attack a human town the Chaos Kin gave using her body was still clear as day to her. Palutena remembered straining to stop herself from speaking any more words.

She would have done anything to stop herself.

She would have done anything to stop herself as she summoned Pit to her throne room after a mission gone wrong. Palutena could feel her hand clutching a ring behind of her back.

Pit, hysterical and on the verge of tears finally entered the throne room. He was summoned because he disobeyed one of her its orders and the Chaos Kin was going to make sure it wouldn't happen again.

_'I-I'm sorry Lady Palutena but I c-couldn't! This isn't right-!' _

_'Oh, Pit. Don't worry...Everything is going to be alright now.'_ Palutena heard herself say. Her voice was understanding and soft, almost as if it were trying to comfort Pit.

_'You're not acting like yourself...'_

She felt her arms wrap around Pit in a tight hug. Keeping him in place.

Palutena could see the monster that was puppeteering her fly behind Pit, its eye looking straight at her as it showed off its claw at the end of its tail.

She remembered one of the very few things she was able to achieve out of her free will was hug Pit tighter as the monster's tail ...-

"Uh, hey miss? Are you okay? I didn't scare you too bad, did I?"

Palutena gasped. The Candid Shopkeeper stood in front of her, a curious and worried expression all over her face. It was a look she was used to giving, not ever receiving. The Goddess of Light was never one to worry people. She was never supposed to and yet here she was, with both Pit and this shopkeeper wondering about her current state.

She took in a breath and rubbed at her dry eyes. When was the last time she blinked? "Oh, please forgive me! I-I must have gotten lost thinking about something!" Palutena smiled. It hurt more than ever.

"Its fine! Don't worry about it! I mean I kind of came out of nowhere with all of that, but I just wanted to make sure you guys stayed safe, yeah? B-But I wouldn't worry about it! We humans are pretty tough so even if the Goddess does come and attack again I'm sure we'll be fine!"

"...Of course. Thank you for your kindness"

"I-Its no problem miss!" the Candid Shopkeeper tried her best to laugh off her embarrassment. She was nowhere near the paragon of goodness that mercenary guy was, but she was glad to help the people she could. Even if it was something as small as baking a few cakes for them.

As the Candid Shopkeeper was about to say her goodbyes to the odd woman, the woman suddenly gasped and turned around.

Palutena hastily looked around to see where Pit was. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth when she noticed he was still standing where she left him, happily looking up at the stars and munching on what Palutena predicted what was the next to last pumpkin pastry by the way he was slowly eating it.

'_Pit._' she called out to him

"Huh? Are you all done Lady-"

"YES! Yes I am!" Palutena yelled out loud before Pit threatened to blow their cover for what would have been the tenth time that night.

After assuring Pit that it would be alright if he ate the last pumpkin pastry, Palutena waved goodbye to the Candid Shopkeeper. "Thank you for everything!" really though, Palutena wished Pit decided to spend their money anywhere else. She didn't need a reminder of the horrible things the Chaos Kin did with her body. She got enough of those already in this single night alone.

"No problem! See you around!" the Candid Shopkeeper waved back. She didn't know why but this odd woman really drew her in. It was almost if she'd known the woman her whole life.

"By the way..." Palutena turned around one last time, her hand on Pit's shoulder to make sure he didn't wander off. "I would say you've done more than 'a few things here and there.' Don't you agree? Fé?"

"Well you're right about that, but I-" the Candid Shopkeeper froze at the sound of her name. "What?! Hey wait a minute how did you-?!"

By the time the Candid Shopkeeper realized what was happening Palutena had already taken off running, pulling Pit along right behind her.

Right into the center of chaos full of people that wanted her and Pit dead.

"Ha ha! Lady Palutena! Where are we going?!" Pit laughed as he was pulled along for the ride. Wherever Palutena was taking them Pit was sure it was somewhere fun.

"...Fun?" Palutena stopped in her tracks.

That's right. They were there to have fun. Not to feel guilty about the whole Chaos Kin incident.

Why did she even start running in the first place?

"Lady Palutena? Is everything _really_ okay?" Pit asked again. It was true he trusted Palutena with his life, but even he was starting to suspect that Palutena really was hiding something from him. She wasn't just nervous about being the center of attention. There was something else, he could feel it.

"Its. Nothing Pit...Oh! Look at that! It looks like another food stand! How do you feel about donuts?"

Pit scowled, it was the response he expected but the not the answer he wanted. It was starting to feel like Lady Palutena had been lying to him all night, maybe even all day. Pit decided to put his foot down and not move until lady Palutena explained what was going on.

"Pit?" she looked back at the Angel, expecting to see an excited face at the prospect of stuffing his face with donuts. Instead she saw Pit's determined glare and bandaged arms firmly placed to his sides. It was the same sort of way he looked at her before he was set to take off for a mission.

"Lady Palutena! Is there something you're not telling me? Is there something wrong...?" Pit asked. His voice was quiet, almost as if he didn't want Palutena to actually hear what he was asking. However, whether Pit wanted to or not Palutena heard and felt him loud and clear.

"Of course there is! There's a lot I don't tell you, Pit!"

"Lady Palutena that's not what I-" a careful pat on his head quickly quieted Pit. Pit looked up to see Palutena's soft smile, the same smile that she would always use when she tried to calm him down whenever he started panicking about something easily solvable. "Pit, if there was something wrong right now trust me, you would be the first to know." Palutena pat his back and started leading him towards the food stand she pointed out earlier. "If I can't trust you, well then, I don't know who I could trust!"

"I-I trust you too Lady Palutena!" Pit tugged on her arm, wanting to get her attention to make sure Palutena knew that he wouldn't hesitate if he needed to protect her.

Palutena stopped to look at him. Pit didn't need to tell her something she already knew.

"I know you do, Pit. Thank you."

Together they stood in line for a chance to buy some freshly made donuts. Pit noticed that Palutena would stare off blankly into the crowd sometimes, her eyes fogging over as if she was somewhere else entierly.

Pit always hated seeing her like that.

But if Lady Palutena said everything was fine, he would trust her word.

Pit sighed as he watched Palutena look to her right, her hand shaking. Pit lightly touched his laurel crown and closed his eyes. No matter what happened he knew he would always trust Lady Palutena. Even when the world was falling apart around him, he would believe in her.

And now was no different.

_'Do you think the angel will come back tonight? To finish the job?'_

* * *

**-the Avengers, but-**

"Outta the way!" a couple of small voices shouted from the crowd.

As Palutena and Pit waited in line at another stand a group of children pushed their way past them. "Woah there! Watch it!" Pit looked at the leftover donuts he held in both hands to make sure they were okay. You could never be too careful after all.

After making sure his donuts were fine, Pit looked back at to try and see where the rude kids ran off to. Whatever they were excitedly running to though probably wasn't as cool as the food he and Lady Palutena were going to get. Pit nodded, silently agreeing with himself as he took a big bite out of the donut in his left hand. And then his right. And then his left again, and then his right until both donuts were finished.

"Pit?" Lady Palutena lightly tapped Pit's shoulder to get his attention.

"Mfff? What's up Lady Palutena?" Pit whispered back, not noticing Palutena sigh when he called her 'Lady Palutena' again. Or maybe she sighed because Pit answered her back with his mouth full of donuts.

Regardless, Palutena still asked her question. "Do you perhaps...? Want to go and see what they're so excited about?"

"N-No! Pfft! Why would I want to do that?!"

"Because you're still looking over there."

"I am?" Pit asked, still looking in the direction the children ran off in.

Palutena rolled her eyes and laughed. Pit was doing the very thing that caused her to pity him and warp them down here in the first place. Perhaps it was because she was with him, walking through the festival and the stand of food after food after more food that Pit hadn't run off to go have fun.

Palutena guessed the laughing children who looked to be having the time of their lives running by them was too much for Pit to resist. Even with the shaved ice stand in front of them.

It was a shame really, Palutena was excited to try the hot (cold) new human dessert that was sweeping towns one by one.

Oh well, she shrugged. There was always next time.

She looked down to see Pit still staring over where the children ran off. He was standing up on his toes trying to see over the heads of the people lined up behind them. "Pit?" Palutena asked, his attention was still focused on trying to see what was going on behind the line. He even started jumping up and down. Never mind that he could have just gotten out of the line to see.

Which is exactly what Palutena decided to do, pulling Pit alongside her.

"Huh-? Lady Palutena where are we going?" Pit asked, as Palutena pulled him by his arm out of the line. They'd only be in the line for a short while so there wasn't a huge loss in getting out of it, but why would Lady Palutena want to?

While Pit waited for an answer, Palutena scanned the festival to see where the children could have run off to. Her biggest guess would have to be the sizable gathering group of people near the town square, one of her small shrines also stood close by.

"Ah-hah!"

"Ah-hah?" Pit repeated, still confused.

"Remember those kids that ran by just a few minutes ago?" Palutena said, smiling down on him, walking alongside him towards the crowd. Pit let himself be pulled along but looked away, embarrassed. "N-No...! I don't!"

"P_iii_t. Angels shouldn't lie!" she reminded him.

"Ack! I'm sorry Lady Palutena!" Pit hummed to himself for a second, thinking over his next words as the town center got closer and closer. The amount of people around them also grew in numbers. Palutena had to excuse herself around so many people while pulling Pit right behind her.

"Its just..." Pit began explaining as Palutena thanked an Old Woman for letting them pass, "They really looked excited to go somewhere and I was thinking, where could they be going that's got them so excited?"

"I figured it was something like that."

"Ugh, then why did you ask?"

"I just wanted to hear it from you! Is that too much to ask?"

"...I guess not."

As their conversation came from a close Palutena and Pit pushed themselves past another group of festival goers. It looked like whatever had the children so excited wasn't drawing in the crowd like Palutena first thought. The town square just happened to be a very busy hub for people to walk around in. There were all sorts of people walking around, from people starting to head home, others waiting to meet and look for other people, and Magnus and Gaol.

"Wait what?"

At first Palutena assumed she mistook a couple of Humans for the other, but sure enough off to the side and near one of her temples of all places were both Magnus _and_ Gaol. They were both surrounded by the same group of excited children Pit was so keen on following earlier. The children looked to be crowding around them and making conversation with the mercenaries, though Gaol looked to be a little quieter than Magnus on her end.

Palutena nodded to herself, '_That makes sense...'_ given what Magnus and Gaol were she didn't think it odd that Human children were so excited to see them. Being a mercenary was very common in these parts, for some reason.

"AHH! MAGNUS?! GAOL?!"

Palutena winced, it looked like Pit finally ripped his attention away from the crowd and noticed the familiar mercenaries in front of him. At the same time Magnus and Gaol looked like someone just swept a rug from right under their feet. "You've got to be kidding me." Magnus looked around himself to see if his ears hadn't deceived him, because either Pit was down at the festival with them or Pit somehow managed to get inside his head. Again.

Gaol looked around in circles for any sign of Pit, even looking above them once or twice when they remembered how Magnus told them they could fly with Palutena's help. Both her and Magnus couldn't have imagined the same thing could they?

Magnus and Gaol's strange behavior didn't go unnoticed by the children crowding around them. "Uhhh...Miss Gaol? Your face looks like you just saw something really bad!" the Smallest Child asked them. The other children around them shared the same sentiment.

Palutena couldn't help but smirk and stand proudly watching the mercenaries look everywhere trying to find Pit. The costumes she made were top quality costumes after all! It was no wonder they couldn't find him! Never mind the 20 or so people constantly walking around them, it was mostly the costumes helping conceal Pit's identity of course.

As she continued to toot her own horn Palutena felt a poke on her arm. "Psst! Lady Palutena, can I go say hi to Magnus and Gaol?" Pit asked. If Pit's wings weren't concealed by a magical veil of her own design, she was positive they would be flapping up and down. Like they always tended to do when he was over excited. Right after that he usually started to bounce up and down over and over.

Just as Palutena predicted Pit began bouncing. "I haven't seen them in forever! I wanna ask them what they've been up to! I bet they've done a ton of cool things! Like beat up bad guys and Underworld monsters!" Pit's eyes shined with wonder and Palutena thought it best not to mention that he pretty much did the same things as them. When he needed to.

"Pit didn't you see them only a few months ago?"

"Hmm? Did I?"

"Yes, you did." Palutena's tone grew serious, "Don't you remember? When you and Pittoo snuck off with the Lightning Chariot and I found you playing ghosts with-"

"Ahahah! Yeah that was sure something! Huh, Lady Palutena?!" Pit laughed loudly to cut her off, using her proper title in front of a giant crowd of people. Again.

Palutena was actually starting to worry that no one seemed to notice Pit slipping up so many times. Maybe they just thought he was a weird kid? It wouldn't be far from the truth.

Palutena's fears would soon be quelled because this time someone did notice Pit's slip up.

"There you are!"

Before Palutena could do anything to hide her and Pit back into the crowd Gaol was already in front of the both of them, crossing her arms and looking down at Pit in particular. "I thought I heard a familiar little voice from this way! Just wait till Magnus hears you're here Angel." Gaol playfully grinned, "Ha! And he said we were just imagining things. Well, I'll show him now!"

"Hey Gaol!" Pit happily greeted the mercenary, ignoring the worrying fact that his cover was blown. Instead Pit was just happy to have another friend to talk to at the festival. "I saw Magnus with you! Where is he?" Pit looked around in all directions, even looking up for good measure. A lot good that did him, all he spotted were a couple of birds flying around.

"Over here." Magnus' voice came from behind of Gaol. She stepped aside for Pit to get a good look at him. Just like earlier he was still surrounded by the same group of children from before. They looked curiously at Pit and then back at Magnus and conversed among themselves, wondering if Magnus somehow knew Pit. It would be odd since he didn't look that older than the oldest one among them, the Tallest Girl, who just turned 13.

Pit noticed their stares and happily waved at them too, "Hi there! My names Pit! Its nice to meet you again!"

The Tallest Girl looked over him closely, "Have we meet?" she asked. Pit nodded happily and pointed behind him, "Yup! You bumped into me and Lady Palutena back at the shaved ice stand remember?" At this point Palutena let out a groan, all this time she was hoping that Pit would be able to keep quiet about the fact that she was here too.

It was almost impossible since she was still standing next to him, but she could always hope.

Gaol looked down at Pit in disbelief, while Magnus walked up closer to Pit to make sure he heard him right, the group of children following right behind him. "Angel. Did you say 'Lady Palutena' was with you? As in..." Gaol got closer to him and whispered, "...As in THE Goddess of Light? That Palutena?"

"Yup!" Pit happily confirmed.

Palutena braced herself for the inevitable, and sighed.

"Well..." Magnus looked around the square, all of his life he'd seen statues and illustrations that depicted the Goddess of Light and none of the people around them were particularly...Goddess like. Nor did anyone look at all like the art depicted her to look like. "So where is she?" Magnus said, giving up the search. On the contrary, Gaol was still hard at work looking around and even over the crowd to see if she could spot the Goddess' signature halo.

Pit laughed and turned to talk to Palutena, "Wow! Lady Palutena you sure did a good job with these costumes! Not even Magnus and Gaol know its you!" Of course now that Pit was talking directly to her it was only a matter of time before they noticed, but it was nice while it lasted.

"Thank you, Pit. Sometimes I even surprise myself!" Palutena flipped her pony tail over her shoulder and her eyes locked with the gaze of both mercenaries.

"Wait-!"

"You're Angelface's-?!

Palutena hastily brought up a finger to her mouth, "Shhh!"

To prevent further suspicion from arising she decided to direct the entire group of them to a field of flowers near her temple, planted back when it was first put up. After so many years the small garden eventually blossomed to an entire field of flowers surrounding her small temple.

Palutena walked in front of the two mercenaries feeling their stares going right through her.

Meanwhile Pit strayed behind and tried to start up a conversation with the group of children that walked right behind Magnus and Gaol.

Palutena could hear Pit ask every child their name, their favorite color and what age they used their first weapon. Most of his questions were answered, but Palutena could tell he was unnerving the children with how hyper he was.

Behind her she could hear the mercenaries talk with themselves.

"She's shorter than I thought."

"Wha-?! Thats what pops out to you first?! How tall did you think she would be?"

Yes, it was true Gaol was just surprised as Magnus to see the Goddess of Light look like a regular human, and yes she was shorter than the both of them. But out of everything she didn't expect that to stand out to Magnus first. "Please don't tell me you thought she would be as tall as her statues."

"No I didn't! Its just..."

Palutena felt Magnus look her up and down.

"She looks so...normal?" Magnus tried to explain.

"Its probably a disguise."

"Well, that's obvious. But still-"

"Is this not what you were expecting a Goddess to look like?" Palutena stopped walking to playfully turn her head to face them. They were talking so loudly it was hard not to play along.

"That obvious?" Magnus answered. Gaol laughed nervously beside him and nodded in agreement.

He and Gaol stopped walking behind her and now all three adults were standing in the middle of a somewhat empty flower field talking with the Goddess of Light. "I mean, I knew Angelface worked for you, but I never expected to actually meet you especially after..." Magnus looked to see of Pit was still in hearing range, Gaol and Palutena looked alongside him.

Behind the adults the children decided to run around the field, kicking up the flowers and watching them blow away in the wind. Pit also joined in while the Young Boy tried to tell the others to be careful or they might end up kicking each other. None of them, not even Pit, listened to him.

Magnus sighed and looked back to Palutena, who to his surprise had a great big smile on her face. Contrary to her smile she also looked to tearing up. "Woah! Are you okay!?" Gaol asked the Goddess, "They're not doing anything bad are they?! This hill isn't sacred is it?!" she lifted up one foot off the ground and looked down at the flowers below her feet. They looked like the same kind of flowers that were planted all over the Seaside Town.

Palutena laughed off Gaol's concern. "No, no! Everything's alright its just..." Palutena took another look at Pit who ran behind of the children, chasing after them as they decided to race each other. Magnus and Gaol took another look at the children, it looked like Pit wasn't quite part of the game they were playing. He was mostly just trailing along and watching them play while mimicking their movements every so often.

The Tallest Girl and the Young Boy raced side by side, Pit also ran alongside them. When the Quiet One tripped while running, oddly enough Pit tripped right after her laughing while doing so. And when the Smallest Child started picking flowers Pit decided to pick some too.

"They look like they're having fun." Gaol stated, at least the kids weren't trailing around her and Magnus anymore. She was especially grateful they weren't trying to make conversation with her anymore. Gaol never had a way with children and she knew this, her patience was too thin to deal with a child.

Magnus was the one good with kids not her.

Palutena clapped her hands together, calling attention to herself. "Excuse me, Gaol? would you mind keeping an eye on Pit for me?" Palutena asked the mercenary, he eyes sparkling with the spark of hope and encouragement. "M-Me?!" Gaol pointed to herself in disbelief. Palutena happily nodded, confirming that Gaol indeed heard the Goddess correctly.

Standing next to Palutena, Magnus let out a loud laugh. "_Wooow_, a job given by the Goddess of Light herself? Now what kind of believer would you be if you said no, Gaol?"

"A smart one."

"Just keep telling yourself that."

Gaol let out a low growl before looking back at Palutena. Her smile was still as bright and insistent as before so despite Gaol's better judgment she sighed in defeat before turning around to go and watch over Pit, and by extent the other group of children that were also running around. Even though it was Magnus himself that agreed to watch them. "I hope you're happy! I took another one of your jobs!" Gaol yelled back at Magnus.

"I'm jumping for joy Gaol."

Gaol did a rather rude hand gesture back at him, only stopping when she caught a glare from the Goddess of Light. The frightened mercenary turned around and quickened her pace towards Pit, who was very happy to see her and instantly showed her the variety of same colored flowers he started to collect.

Back near the base of the hill Magnus was left alone with the Goddess of Light standing by his side.

A sentence he thought he would never be a part of.

"I gotta admit, I'm impressed you managed to get Gaol to do something she didn't want to do. Even if you are a Goddess." Magnus paused, and frowned heavily, "Uh...You didn't use any mind control powers on her or something, did you?" None of what Magnus once studied about the Goddess of Light ever mentioned anything about those types of powers but, it didn't hurt to ask.

"I don't think so!" Palutena smiled and took a seat on the grassy hill. It was ironic considering how hard she got on Pit's case about getting grass stains on his own clothes, but with the festival almost over a few stains here and there wouldn't hurt.

That and she just knew Pit was going to dirty his clothes playing in the flowers anyway.

Magnus looked down at the Goddess, clear confusion his face. "...Okay, I'll take your word on it." nothing in the books ever said anything about Goddesses sitting down on grass either. Magnus was starting to think that Palutena was probably as weird as Pit. It would make sense given everything. From what little information he knew about the kid, Palutena was the only adult figure in Pit's life besides him and Gaol so it made sense Pit would take after Palutena.

"Sooo?" Palutena cried out, surprising Magnus. She tapped the ground next to her, inviting him to take a seat next to him. Magnus shook his head, "No thanks."

"Aww, is the big bad mercenary afraid of a few bugs crawling on him?" Palutena teased.

"Ha ha! Wiiiimp! I bet he is!" Gaol yelled from like a million miles away. Pit looked around confused to where she was yelling. When Gaol directed him to where Palutena and magnus were he waved back as fast as he could.

"Don't forget to call Magnus a coward!" Gaol reminded Pit. "Okay! Magnus you're a coward!" Pit said with a big smile. Please make note they were still like a million miles away.

A few seconds later Magnus was sitting on the ground next to Palutena. Which is yet another sentence he never expected to be a part of.

"Your Angel always do whatever people ask him to do?" Magnus crossed his legs in an effort to make himself more comfortable.

"You'd be surprised actually, he usually doesn't. Gaol must have a way with kids!"

"Hmm."

For a good while Palutena and Magnus sat in complete silence, the only sound around them being the sound of the festival and the children playing near them. Occasionally Gaol would remind them to play nice and to not start any trouble. Most of those warnings were directed towards the Young Boy and the Smallest Child.

The silence between the two was broken with a simple question from Palutena.

"How have you been doing lately Magnus? Anything exciting happen lately? Have you been feeling better? I know you've had trouble sleeping for a few months, but I hear you're doing better? Was there something wrong before?"

Correction, it was A LOT of questions from Palutena.

At first Magnus stayed quiet and listened to the Goddess ask question after question, before he'd heard enough. "Those are pretty bold questions to ask someone you just meet."

"I've known you for almost your entire life Magnus."

"Then shouldn't you know the answers?"

"There are a lot of things I should know and a lot of Humans I watch over. I hope you'll forgive me for forgetting a fact or two." Palutena said, playfully winking at him. Forgetting facts about Human's wasn't a lie, not completely. However, Palutena had done extensive research on Magnus the minute Pit first ran into him. At the time it was only Pit's second outing in 25 years so Palutena was understandably nervous about whatever or whoever Pit ran into.

"But don't worry. I understand if you don't want to talk about it." Thankfully Magnus turned out to be a trustworthy and reliable ally. On more occasions than one.

"Thank you by the way."

Magnus raised an eyebrow, confused at the Goddess' words. "For what?" what did he ever do to help Palutena out?

Palutena smiled and looked over to where Pit was happily picking flowers. The flowers he picked were now a large bouquet which Palutena knew in her heart Pit would hand over to her with a great big smile on his face. "Thank you for helping Pit. When I couldn't."

Magnus was confused again, before realization sunk in.

Palutena was talking about the ring incident. That weird moment in time Magnus let an Angel pilot his body. It wasn't the most pleasant experience he cared to think about again, but what reason would Palutena have for bringing it up? "You're welcome? I guess?" Magnus scratched his face nervously, "Its weird you're actually thanking me for beating up your Angel though..."

"Well, without you Pit would have been stuck as a ring for who knows how long!" Palutena was obviously joking, but Magnus could still hear the sadness in her voice thinking about that possibility. "In a way you helped Pit save the world! So give yourself a big pat on the back!" Palutena slapped Magnus on the back, causing him to flinch. It hurt way than Magnus expected a hit from Palutena to hurt. Then again, Palutena was a **Goddess**. Whether she acted like one or not.

Palutena turned her attention back to watching Pit, her heart still swelling with happiness every time she saw him smile.

"Hey, you mind if I ask something?"

"Of course not Magnus!" Palutena answered, still looking at Pit as he ran over to Gaol to show her his large bouquet of flowers. Her body language was giving out the obvious signs that she didn't know what to say but Palutena admired her efforts.

"What happened? Why attack us? And why was Pit a ring of all things?"

Magnus noticed Palutena's demeanor instantly change. Her posture went from almost perfect to hunched over in an instant, her hands going from neatly lying on her tunic to clutching it almost like her life depended on it. The Goddess looked down and refused to look anywhere else that wasn't her own hands.

"W-Woah I'm sorry! I didn't know it was such a-?!" Magnus never expected such a strong reaction from the Goddess of all people but from Pit's own reactions to Magnus' question about the whole incident he should have really expected something like this.

"Its...alright." Palutena said, still refusing to look up at him. "The whole thing is just. Hard to talk about."

'_Don't ask me about that. I don't want to talk about that.' _

_'Angelface?'_

Palutena took in a deep breath and finally looked up at Magnus, her hands were still holding onto her tunic. "I suppose I should go over this as quick as I can. Are you familiar with something called the Chaos Kin?" Magnus shook his head. That was all the info Palutena needed to continue, "Well, during a battle with the Forces of Nature there was an...odd incident."

"Odd?" he was curious about who the 'Forces of Nature' were, but Magnus figured it was best to let Palutena continue her story.

"During an attack something escaped one of their bases."

Magnus could see where this was going, "Let me guess, the thing that escaped was whatever this Chaos Kin thing is?"

Palutena should have looked into it more. Even though Skyworld's hands were full with the Underworld, the Forces of Nature, and soon the Aurum she should have payed more attention to it. Pit's causal brushing aside of the mysterious thing breaking out of the Lunar Sanctum shouldn't have been enough to convince her. He was still a kid, of course he wouldn't think too much about these things.

But she should have known better.

"Uh, hey Goddess?"

"Oh right, where was I?"

* * *

**-finders keepers-**

Palutena continued her story.

She began by telling Magnus about how once Pit returned home after defeating...some mysterious enemies he asked if he could go straight to bed, completely skipping over the take-out dinner Palutena ordered especially for him.

She found it strange, even at the time, that Pit would skip over dinner but defeating an entire alien army would probably be tiring even for her. So instead of thinking more about it she happily accompanied Pit to his room.

On the way they talked about what they would do about the Forces of Nature and the Underworld attacks now that the Aurum were taken care of. Palutena reassured Pit that she would come up with a plan by tomorrow morning once she scouted more of the enemy's movements, and that all that Pit needed to do was rest up for tomorrow.

Finally, they reached Pit's room and Palutena gently opened the door for them to both enter. The room was still a mess from the day before with several papers and dolls still littering the floor. Tomorrow she would remind Pit that he needed to clean up, since tonight he needed to turn in early. Palutena noticed Pit standing in an eerie daze in the middle of his room and figured he must have been so tired he'd fallen asleep standing up.

It wouldn't have been the first time, so she did the usual and gently pushed him towards his hammock.

"There you are Pit! Lucky for us you made your bed before you left, huh?" Palutena grabbed one of his dolls off the floor and placed it on his hammock. In response Pit rubbed his eyes and let out a yawn. Then he thanked Lady Palutena for being so stupid.

...

The next thing Palutena knew Pit was lying unconscious in front of her and her body was moving all on its own. She saw her hand raise itself up and move her fingers around, like whatever was controlling her was testing something. The name Chaos Kin rung through her head and instantly Palutena knew almost everything about the thing controlling her. What it looked like, what it was doing, and how it was controlling her.

Everything except for what it wanted.

It started to walk around Pit's room, accidentally stepping on his things. A scowl crossed its face when she stepped on a small doll lying on the floor. Palutena was too shocked to do much, not that she could. Whatever was controlling her now was incredibly powerful. Maybe as powerful as her, or maybe even stronger. _'What do you want?'_ she finally managed to ask after concentrating enough.

The "Chaos Kin" said nothing back. _'What do __**you**__ want!?'_ Palutena yelled again, could she think any louder she wondered.

Then she, and the Chaos Kin, heard a groan from behind them.

_'No. No! Don't you dare!'_ Palutena cried out, it didn't take her a long time to put two and two together. Whatever this Chaos Kin was must have been controlling Pit for the short while he was in the temple. That was the only way it could have gotten close enough to her. If the Chaos Kin had just flown in by itself Palutena would have detected the moment it entered her temple.

The Chaos Kin ignored her continued pleas as it walked up to get a closer look at the Angel it hitched a free ride on. It stepped back once the Angel started to stir and speak.

"Huh...? Where am I?" Pit rubbed his head, for some reason it really hurt. He chalked up his head pain to the big battle against the Aurum and Pyrrhon, not to mention the Centurions he also protected on the way to the boss battle. Pit tried to push himself back up, but quickly stumbled and fell back. He let out a groan, now everything felt like it hurt.

"Do you need help, Pit?" Palutena heard herself say. If she still had any control over her own body Palutena's blood would have ran cold as soon as she heard the Chaos Kin speak through her. If it could control her body to this extent there was no telling how dangerous this thing really was.

She needed to free herself from its control, as quick as she could.

However, before Palutena could do anything she felt a hand grab her own. The Chaos Kin was helping Pit up. "Thanks Lady Palutena!" Pit looked around the room and then back at her, "How did I get here? What happened after the Aurum left?"

So Pit didn't remember either? Did he know anything about the Chaos Kin?

"Well, you looked so tired after defeating the Aurum I decided to bring you back to your room! Then you fell asleep, but a little while ago I thought I heard a thump and turns out you fell off your bed!"

"Oh..."

"But never mind that!" Palutena saw her hands come together and felt the Chaos Kin get excited, "We have a big mission tomorrow! You need to go back to bed and rest up for tomorrow!"

Pit let out a yawn and tilted his head, confused over Lady Palutena's sudden orders. "Another mission? Already? Aren't you gonna do some re...recon..reconnaissance first?"

The Chaos Kin shook its head, Palutena could feel its excitement growing as her dread grew alongside it. "No! There's no need! I already know who we're attacking tomorrow!"

"Attacking?! Who are we-?"

"Pit." Palutena's own voice sounded too stern for her liking. "Stop asking questions like that. and get to bed. That's an order." Pit stepped back and his wings bent inwards like he was trying to protect himself from her.

It was something Palutena hadn't seen him do for a long time.

_'Pit!? Pit no! I'm sorry! I'm-!"_ Palutena tried to make her own words come out of her mouth but absolutely nothing came out. She couldn't even reach out her hand to him.

Pit took in a deep breath, before climbing back into his hammock. "S-Sorry Great Palutena..." he whispered, hoping Palutena wouldn't hear. Both Palutena and the Chaos Kin heard him clear as day however.

Palutena felt a smile form on her face as the Chaos Kin started laughing. "That's alright Pit. Just don't let it happen again."

Pit nodded.

The next hours were nothing but a blur as Palutena fought her hardest to regain control. Even worse she could feel her own soul slowly slipping away. Her options were limited to two. Either keep fighting for control and risk her soul fading away or use her remaining strength to keep her soul tied to her.

Neither option was easy. Every minute felt like she was fighting to stay alive. Which technically she was, but it felt like it was being amplified by a thousand. Maybe if she was quick, she could use a last burst of strength to drive the Chaos Kin out.

Palutena considered doing just that.

It wasn't until after Pit's failed mission when Palutena's entire plan came crashing down.

The mission the Chaos Kin was so keen on sending Pit on turned out to be a completely random attack on a Human town. Pit was joined by a small group of Centurions who began following the Chaos Kin's orders without question. Since the Centurions were at their core an extension of her. They stood no chance of fighting off the Chaos Kin's influence.

Pit, on the other hand, stood frozen in the middle of town at a loss of what to do. No matter what the Chaos Kin yelled at him or what insults came out of Palutena's mouth, Pit would not budge. On occasion Pit would take a step before freezing up again, while the Chaos Kin continued to order him to attack the Humans or to attack anything.

Inside her own head Palutena taunted the Chaos Kin,_ 'Pit isn't going to listen to someone like you! You might as well just give it up already!'_ Palutena thought that, if she continued to insult the Chaos Kin it would focus more on shouting orders at Pit then focus on her. That gave her the perfect chance to drive it out. She promised to apologize a million times to Pit once this was all over.

But, eventually the Chaos Kin gave up and ordered Pit to report to the throne room.

Almost all of Palutena's strength was gone after that interaction. The very last of it used to save her beloved Angel from certain death. While the Chaos Kin simply decided to destroy Pit's soul after placing it in the Ring of Chaos, Palutena managed to take back control for more than a few seconds. As she held the ring in her hand to her surprise she could sense _two_ Angels sleeping inside the ring.

Two of them, both Pit and Dark Pit's lives depended on her now.

She could feel the Chaos Kin slowly regaining back control right before she warped the ring away, not even giving it a destination to warp to. If she didn't know where it went, neither would the Chaos Kin.

The Chaos Kin didn't seem to quite like what Palutena had done as it let out a scream using her own voice. Palutena was happy to have gotten one thing to go her way, however that happiness wouldn't last long at all.

Palutena couldn't even begin to describe the sorrow she felt when she saw Pit's soulless body attack its first human.

...

"...After that all I could do was watch. You can't really do that much when you're fighting to make sure your soul isn't completely eaten." Palutena smiled and turned to Magnus. He was still sitting listening quietly, his expression as neutral as ever "And the rest I think you know yourself."

"So you and Angelface were controlled by some weird mind control bug?"

"If you want to call it that, then yes."

"Makes sense." even from meeting them, or at least Pit, once. Magnus could tell they weren't the type to suddenly turn and attack innocent people. At least, that's the vibe he got from Pit, and Magnus took great pride in being an excellent judge of character. It came with the job of being a mercenary.

Unfortunately, Pit also seemed like the type of person to easily follow orders and though according to Palutena that that wasn't the case, it still didn't stop Magnus at the time from thinking that Palutena somehow lost it and Pit being the simple Angel he was followed her orders happily with a smile on his face.

Back then, despite what he told himself he dreaded the day he would finally have to confront Pit face to face.

Magnus looked back to Palutena. Instead of looking at Pit again she was looking at the crowd of Humans back at the town square.

"Magnus? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Don't expect an answer from me though."

Palutena laughed, speaking with Humans was really different from speaking with other divine beings, besides Viridi, "Don't worry I won't. Its just..." she took in a deep breath, "Would you say that I'm to blame for those three years? For all the Human lives that were lost?"

"I..." Magnus expected this sort of question. Especially after Palutena explained the whole story about the Chaos Kin to him. He was probably the only human on the planet now who knew the whole story, but even after learning the whole story it was hard to say.

The Chaos Kin was the one that ordered the attacks on the humans, but it was also Palutena and Pit who freed it in the first place. According to Palutena at least.

Before Magnus could answer, Palutena spoke up again.

"Because the right answer is, yes. I am."

"...Then why even ask me?"

Palutena turned to look at him, her eyes staring right into him. "I needed to make sure you didn't blame Pit. Like other Humans." Palutena's plain green eyes glowed for half a second, "Out of everyone involved in this mess, you can't blame him for any of what happened."

While Palutena explained to him that Pit wasn't to blame Pit's faraway laughter rang in his ears.

"Don't tell me the kid blames himself or something?" he asked. Back when Pit was a ring he didn't seem to act too guilty over the fact that he'd apparently been attacking humans for three years straight, but maybe the fact that he was a ring was overshadowing that particular worry. Along with being a ring Magnus remembered Pit being very worried for Palutena's safety as well.

Palutena continued, "Of course not! Honestly, you wouldn't believe how many prayers I get to..." she paused, "...To end Pit's life. I think I'm much more content to receive prayers blaming me at this point!" She smiled sadly and tilted her head to the side to get a better view at where Pit was trying to talk with the other children. It still looked like he was having a good time.

"So no, he doesn't. And he shouldn't! Its better the Humans blame me instead of him."

"He does know what he did right?" Pit had to. Magnus explained the whole thing to him and there was no way he could forget something like that

"I..." Palutena hesitated to answer, "...I don't know."

"You don't know?!" How could Pit not know?! Magnus told him everything, unless something happened in the past few years that caused Pit to forget everything Magnus explained during their meeting.

"Haven't you talked to him about it?!" from what he heard about the Chaos Kin in the last few minutes it probably wasn't the funnest thing to talk about, far from it, but it was something they _needed_ to talk about. There was no way Palutena kept all of that to herself.

Magnus' fears were confirmed when Palutena turned away and sighed.

"You haven't told him anything you've told me, have you?"

"Of course not."

"And can I ask why?!"

Palutena hesitated again before answering. "I'm scared to." there was no other way of saying it. Palutena was scared. "I'm scared of what he'll do Magnus. You don't know Pit like I do, I raised him. I know Pit is the type to what to make things right no matter what. He'll try and seek out a way to amends with the Humans, no matter what. Even if it meant going behind my back, I know he will."

Magnus could tell where Palutena was going with this.

"If I ever tell Pit anything about what I did or what the Humans think of him and I..." Palutena closed her eyes and took a breath, "...I know he'll do anything to defend me. To clear my name. Even risk his life. That's why I can't talk to Pit about this. Any of it."

Magnus hesitated to say anything more. There wasn't much he could say, considering even he and Gaol were guilty of lying about pretty much the same thing on another occasion. Deciding to keep the fact that a group of humans Pit had terrorized were staying right next to the Angels. Magnus and Gaol lied to both Angels to keep them safe, but this and that were different. They were completely different situations.

"I think you need to tell him. Or at least talk about it."

"Why would you think that?"

Magnus didn't like the tone of voice or her wording, as if he somehow knew less than her. Because I think the longer you stay quiet about it the worst its going to get. I know Pit isn't the sharpest tool on the workbench, but even you have to know he's going to notice one day." Magnus crossed his arms looked at the Goddess, "And you two have eternity, don't you? Don't expect my reincarnation to help you out of the hole you dug yourself in."

The Goddess remained silent, looking down at her hands again as she flexed her fingers.

Magnus pushed himself up, standing above the Goddess. "It'll be fine. Trust me I know its not easy to talk about stuff like that, but once it off your chest you and Pit will feel better." it felt like only a few years ago that Magnus felt as scared as Palutena, scared about talking about something that affected him and a friend. "You know, Gaol didn't want to talk about being Dark Lord Gaol either, and neither did I. It took a few months, but we did it and I think that helped her out. I mean, it didn't magically fix everything, but it got her on the right track."

Palutena's and Pit's relationship was far different than his and Gaol's, however. The Goddess and Angel shared a bond that reminded Magnus of a mother and her child. And all Palutena wanted to do was to protect him from anything that could hurt him, including Pit himself.

Magnus understood that part perfectly.

"I get you're scared but give Pit a little more credit. He's a tough kid and you're a tough Goddess. You guys can make it through."

"...Thank you, Magnus."

* * *

**-its /my/ story and i get to add the s****utera cordata****-**

"Check it out! I think got the most flowers out of everyone here!" Pit boldly boasted, holding out a large bouquet of flowers in his arms.

He'd decided to pick mostly the same color of flowers. They were small, with a yellow center and five white petals adorning them. He was carrying so many flowers he was dropping most of them on the run to go and tell Gaol about them. Pit thought they looked nice and more than a little familiar.

The field the children were playing on was actually covered with the same type of flower. Although they were almost all differently colored, adorned in a variety of pink and purple and white. The other four children kept mostly to themselves and away from the strange weird kid they just meet.

Gaol sighed, she felt a little bad watching Pit try to strike up a conversation with the other children that ended up with them silently nodding their heads and walking away after Pit was distracted by something, but that at least made Gaol's job a million times easier.

After a while Pit seemed to give up on talking with the children and instead focused his attention on making conversation with Gaol. Which she didn't mind too much.

"Do you think Lady Palutena will like these flowers?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"Are you going to hand her that mess?" she pointed at the literal bush of flowers Pit was still carrying. Some of the flower petals were falling to the ground. Enough petals fell from the flowers that there was a small pile of them near his feet.

Gaol wouldn't be surprised if Pit picked every white flower in the field. "If I were your Goddess, I'd like something a lot more nicer."

"But you're not Lady Palutena!" Pit huffed, "Or a Goddess!"

"Yeah, I'm aware. That goes without saying but-"

"But you did say it."

"The point is-!" Gaol looked over to the other group of children, who were busy having fun making an assortment of flower crowns. It was pretty clear that the Quiet One was the one teaching and guiding the others on the process of it, since she was wearing an already completed crown on her head. It was mostly green with some flowers in between, but it was still a lot prettier than Pit's flowery mess.

"Say, why don't you try making a little flower crown?"

"What is that!?" Pit looked at Gaol with pleading eyes, begging her to continue and explain on what she meant.

"Its uh, some sort of head decoration you make with flowers?" Gaol hoped that Pit would get the hint that she didn't know the first thing on what or how to make a flower crown.

"Cool! can you help me make one?!" Pit held out his mess of flowers towards Gaol, his eyes were sparkling with so much hope that Gaol found it hard to tell him '_No_.'

Hard, but not impossible.

"Me? Yeah, I can't." Gaol then grabbed Pit by the shoulders and expertly twirled him around, stopping him on a dime so he was facing where the other children were playing. "They're the experts you want to ask. If you're serious about this thing."

Pit held back a sad sigh.

"I'm just the babysitter, Angel. I can't help you here." having to deal with children was never in her job description. Except for the part where it was literally in her job description, but if you brought that up to Gaol she would kindly remind you that she was on break.

"FFFFine!" Pit let out a loud "Hmph!" and slowly walked to the group of other kids. Taking note of how reluctant Pit was acting to ask for help, Gaol took a guess that Pit noticed how the other children didn't want anything to do with him. There was a part of her that felt bad for sending Pit on a mission he was doomed to fail, but maybe one final push was all that was needed for them to get along.

"Another job well done." maybe so well done that the Goddess of Light would look down on her and grant her a few extra favors.

After thinking over what kind of cool blessings a Goddess would give her, Gaol took a quick peek to see if Pit was talking with the children about his flower problem. "Hmm?" instead of seeing what she was expecting, which was an easy to watch bunch of children having the time of their lives getting their hands dirty with gross plants.

Instead, Gaol saw the group of children yelling among themselves. They all looked very worried about something.

The mercenary sighed, if a kid was worried about something it was either the most trivial thing in the world (maybe one of them took another kid's flower?) or it was about to lead to another mess she would be forced to drag Magnus in for help again.

That would have made it the fourth time they would work together this month and there was no way she was about to owe Magnus anymore favors than he owed her. At that point she would owe him one more favor then Magnus owed her!

But Gaol's fate was sealed when the Tallest Girl came running and yelling about how the '_Talky Kid_' pushed one of her friends over and ran back into the town.

Gaol gulped, there was no way she heard the girl right. Right? She didn't know Pit as well as the goddess or even Magnus did, but she was sure Pit was not the type to run off without saying a word to anyone. "Kid...? Could you run that by me one more time?"

The Tallest Girl nodded, but before she could explain any further the Young boy ran up to Gaol. Also yelling. "That Talky kid pushed me over! Then he ran away!" the Young Boy didn't look hurt, but he still looked plenty mad about being pushed around. Gaol couldn't really blame him, If some weird new kid pushed her down back when she was a kid she probably would have decked the guy.

Ah! But she was getting distracted! "Ugh..." she was really going to have to explain next time to Magnus that she really was no good with kids. Maybe after this he would finally believe her.

"Okay!" she yelled, trying to get control of a situation that was already well under control. She looked down at the children that were now surrounding her, the Quiet One and the Smallest Child joined the other two in looking up at her, waiting for her guidance.

"W-Well..." in truth, the only thing Gaol could think to do was split up and go after Pit. All of them could take a certain direction to box him in and make sure he couldn't escape. Then when one of them spotted him they would signal the others, slowly trapping Pit into an inescapable trap until he was finally caught off guard and Gaol could land the finishing blow.

Wait. They were looking for a missing kid. Not a bounty.

...aaand she was with children. Not other mercenaries.

So there went Gaol's only plan.

While Gaol racked her brain around for a plan that didn't involve drawing more attention to themselves or Pit, the group of children decided to gossip among themselves.

"Ugh! I don't get why he had to push me out of the way! He could have just asked me to move!" the Young Boy angrily said.

The Tallest Girl shook her head, "I'm sorry, its my fault. I think I made him mad." she recalled the last thing she said to him before he took off running. They were too busy talking with each other to notice the weird talky kid slowly walking up to them. It wasn't until the Tallest Girl mentioned something about the Goddess did they notice him. They heard him gasp loudly and right after that he ran over all their hard work, pushing himself past the Young Boy.

Even when they all yelled at him about it there was no sort of reaction from him, instead he ran right back into the town square they'd come from.

The Tallest Girl mindlessly played with her hair. "You know, maybe he got mad I said my dad called the Goddess a heartless monster..."

"...You said what to him?"

A sense of fear and dread overtook the children when they saw the look Gaol was giving them. Because there was nothing that scared a child more than seeing an adult look afraid.

* * *

**-as i feared-**

"Magnus!"

Palutena and Magnus turned their attention to the panicked cry coming from the flower field.

Gaol was running towards them with the same group of children trailing righ behind her. They looked almost as scared as her.

"Gaol? What is-?" Palutena began asking before Magnus inadvertently cut her off by walking away from her. An eerily familiar and foreboding feeling filled the air around him. Bad news was coming and whatever it was, given Gaol's cry for him and him alone, was meant for his ears only. Gaol took Magnus and quickly pulled him aside, placing him right between her and the Goddess of Light. The children stopped behind her and looked down at their own feet. Magnus took pity on them and quietly told them to run off back to their parents.

The children were reluctant at first, but the Tallest Girl wrangled the other three and told them they were better off leaving the job to a 'Brave mercenary, like Magnus.'

The Quiet One had to be pulled away by the Tallest Girl, but eventually it was only Gaol and Magnus standing alone in a relatively quiet flower field. Of course, the all-powerful Goddess of Light was still in the picture, but she found herself preoccupied in making sure the children got back to their parents safely.

Using her All-Seeing eye, she was able to see the Young Boy and the Quiet One being led back to their mom's now empty food stand by the Tallest Girl. For a moment Palutena was relived Pit didn't ask to escort the children back home as well. He must have gotten too engrossed in picking flowers to notice, concluded Palutena.

"Gaol?"

"Heyy Magnus..." she whispered

Gaol's message was loud and clear. Magnus approached her and whispered, "What the hell is going on Gaol? You look like you just botched another job." it was a look Magnus was more than well acquainted with as he's seen the same look from himself and Gaol countless of times. A nervous smile and wide eyes, darting around for anything that could get them out of the mess they got themselves in.

Gaol was looking right past him at the Goddess of Light still sitting right behind them.

"You...You could say that..."

"Gaol, just spit it out. We don't have time for-"

"The Angels gone! He wandered off and I don't know where he is!"

"What?!" Palutena sprung to her feet and pushed her way (quite easily) past Magnus. The Goddess grabbed Gaol's arms holding her in place. "Uh oh." even though Palutena was much _much_ shorter than her, Gaol felt instantly intimidated. And why shouldn't she be? Gaol did just lose sight of what was the equivalent of the Goddess' kid after all. Gaol thought she would be lucky to make it to the end of today, if not cursed.

"What do you mean you lost sight of Pit?" Magnus asked, pushing himself back into the conversation. Not physically of course, because there was no chance he was strong enough to push Palutena out of the way.

Gaol looked over at Magnus then down at the Goddess who was more than capable of ending her life then and there if she said the wrong things.

That was unless of course she already said the wrong thing.

"Gaol!" Palutena, now reaching the limit of her patience began shaking the mercenary for information. "What do you mean you lost Pit?! Where did you see him last?! Did he say anything!?" after every question the shaking intensified to the point where Gaol couldn't even see straight.

Gaol took a moment to think about how funny it was that her punishment for losing a servant of the Goddess of Light was getting dizzy before she realized that she wanted to stop being dizzy.

"Ww w aaahh I'll ans snwer you r rques tion sss! Ju uus t stoo pp! Sh aaaking meeeeee!"

"What?!" Palutena said still shaking the mercenary.

"That means stop shaking her and she'll spill the beans."

"Oh!" Palutena immediately stopped, "I am _**so**_ sorry about that Gaol. I don't know what came over me..."

Gaol couldn't really blame for reacting so strongly to the news, she saw it coming a mile away. The least she could do was apologize and help look for him, "I'm really sorry I should have been watching him better. And now he's lost and-"

"You lost Pit! Yes, I know! We all know! But where was he last?!"

Gaol was taken aback, or maybe she was still dizzy and didn't hear the Goddess right. Still being dizzy might have also been responsible for asking her next question. "Wow. Aren't you at least a little mad?" she heard Magnus sigh behind her.

"I'm absolutely livid!" all with herself, "But that's not important right now!"

"Err, right." there was no way Gaol or Magnus were going to survive this night. "The thing is, he ran off after one of the kids said something they heard their dad say."

"Well? What'd the kid say to him?" Magnus asked.

Gaol paused and looked at Palutena who was waiting and listening to her every word. "One of the kids might have said their dad call the goddess here, a 'heartless monster."

Palutena gasped, not because of what was said about her, she could care less about that. "Is that...Is that what Pit heard that made him run off?" she asked. Palutena hoped that Gaol would say something, anything else that Pit might have heard instead. Even if the kids talked about a food stand they never visited. Palutena would buy a hundred more snacks for him if it meant Pit didn't hear someone call her..._that_.

Instead, Gaol gave a solemn nod and confirmed Palutena's worst fears.

"...A heartless monster..." Palutena whispered to herself. Right now the only thing that mattered to her was Pit, and how he felt hearing Palutena be called that.

She knew Pit was fiercely protective of her. Any insult directed to her by anyone, be it a God or whoever, was usually meet by Pit glaring back or yelling back at them about how Palutena was nothing at all like what they said. Palutena didn't usually mind when Pit acted up in her name, it was only just a little bit embarrassing. The only times she would step in and tell him to stop was when she knew Pit would get hurt because of it.

And if Palutena was right about what Pit would decide to do, she had to act fast. Otherwise, the whole town would turn against him. Or they might decide to do something worse.

"Hey, Goddess?"

Palutena looked to see Magnus looking over at the town that Pit was now freely wandering in. Gaol was next to him, she looked to be deep in thought. "If Angelface is lost, why not call to him with your mind powers? I mean that's how you talked to him back when I first him, right?"

Palutena was silent. Then her eyes grew wide and a deep blush began to overtake her face.

"AH! You're right how could I forget?!" as quick as she could Palutena turned to face where Gaol said Pit ran off to and began to scan the crowd for Pit and his laurel crown.

Behind her, Magnus and Gaol exchanged glances. "I see where Angelface gets it now." Magnus whispered, after talking with Palutena and personally getting to know her he could see Palutena letting Pit walk into an obvious trap. Not with any sort of ill intent of course, she really did care about him. They would both walk into an obvious trap because Palutena acted just as optimistic and hopeful as Pit did.

"I guess the apple doesn't fall from the proverbial family tree, huh Magnus?" Gaol playfully wrapped her arm around Magnus' shoulders. Now that the danger of Pit wandering away and getting lost or hurt was an impossibility thanks to Palutena's powers, the atmosphere around the three began to lighten up. "That Angel does seem like the kind of kid who's easily influenced by other people, so maybe that's why!"

Magnus raised a confused eyebrow, "What's why?"

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed! Sometimes the little Angel is the spittin' image of a younger you!"

After putting two and two together Magnus gave a gasp and pushed himself away from being Gaol's arm rest. "Wha-?! What are you talking about?! I didn't act anything like that!" Magnus yelled in a hushed tone, it looked like Palutena was still deep in concentration trying to find where Pit ran off to.

Gaol gave a playful smirk, "Aww wh_aaat_? Did poor little Magnus forget about the time he thought it was a good idea to hit a bee's nest so he could knock them out and steal their honey?"

"I was fourteen!"

"Jokes on you, you were fifteen! That day was your birthday."

"Gaol! Stop yelling!"

"Hey. You yelled first." She whispered.

A sudden scream from Palutena quickly put a stop to the playful argument between the two mercenaries. Before either of them could ask what was wrong Palutena took off running back into the town.

"H-Hey! Wait up!" Gaol yelled to her. Then to their surprise Palutena stopped in her tracks and turned to them, her eyes were wide with panic. "I-I know where Pit is! We have to go get him! Now!" Magnus and Gaol were taken aback at how serious she sounded. It was the first time since meeting the Goddess that she actually sounded like, well, a Goddess.

"I'm asking you to follow me because I know you care for Pit as much as I do! Please!"

This time Palutena didn't wait for an answer.

And Magnus and Gaol didn't wait for a question.

Palutena ran as fast as her disguised mortal legs could carry her. She knew neither Gaol or Magnus would truly understand how severe the situation really was. If there was any time to explain she would have loved to, but time was a luxury none of them had right now. Especially Pit.

Whose last thought continued to ring in Palutena's head, as if it were a clock's chime counting down to the moment of disaster.

_'They're wrong...They're wrong about you Lady Palutena.'_

* * *

**-scattered flowers-**

"Excuse me?"

Pit's soft voice tried its best to cut through the noisy crowd. The crowd of adults that Pit pushed himself into took no notice that he wandered into their celebration, as they continued to laugh and joke among themselves.

"Excuse me!" Pit's voice rose in volume, frustrated that he was clearly being ignored. He tugged on the shirt of a Tall Man, who couldn't have been older than 40. The Tall Man very quickly noticed his attention being wanted. He must have been used to this sort of thing.

"Huh-? Rine? Is that-?" the Tall Man looked down, expecting to see his young daughter back from playing. Only to be confused to see a teenager he'd never meet before. "Hello there? Can I help you?"

Pit frowned, that name was all he needed to hear.

The other adults he was talking with began to ask amongst themselves if any of them knew whose child this was. Some even raised suspicions that he might be an orphan.

The Tall Man quickly lead Pit away from the gossiping adults, which he found very hard to do with Pit digging his heels into the ground, absolutely refusing to move. The Tall Man sighed, he knew teenagers were a handful, but in this circumstance he expected a little more cooperation than this. Eventually the Tall Man gave in and knelt down next to Pit, he placed a supporting hand on Pit's shoulder.

Pit stared right at him.

"H-Hey-?! Are you lost? Its okay you can tell me and me and my friends can help find...whoever you're looking for."

"Why did you say those things about Lady Palutena?!"

The Tall Man took a stood back up in surprise, shocked that what looked to be a teenager just suddenly raised his voice at him. Even weirder he just yelled at him for speaking ill of the goddess. The Tall Man figured that this must have been a child of an acolyte or a devout believer. But then how would he know of his opinion of the goddess of light?

He laughed nervously waving off the concerned stares of his friends, "I don't know what you're talking about but how about we go find your parents or anyone you know and then we can talk about..._that_?" the Tall Man hovered his hand over Pit's shoulder hoping to calm him down enough to find his parents.

Or really, anyone that knew him.

Pit stepped back and held his arms in front of him purely on instinct, "Y-Your daughter she said you called the Goddess of Light...a heartless monster." Pit realized that maybe calling Lady Palutena by her proper title was a little too obvious to his true identity. It was better late than never.

The Tall Man briefly though about what Pit just told him before scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. He hoped that his daughter would behave herself after making such a point that she could handle running around the festival by herself along with her group of friends. It looked like that wasn't the case.

"Ah, I'm sorry she said something like that to you. I'll have a talk with her later." he would also have to make sure to mind his mouth around her more often. He shook his head thinking about what else she could have overheard him talking about. Suddenly raising a kid alone was turning out to be as hard as he expected.

The particular kid in front of him though didn't care much for his promise. "She said YOU called her a heartless monster! Why did you call her that?!" Pit was breathing fast, fast enough that his head felt light and his hands started to feel numb even though he knew he was squeezing them closed tight. The flowers in his hands were nearly reaching their breaking point.

Lady Palutena was the kindest, nicest, and the most hardworking Goddess Pit ever meet. Out of every God in the Pantheon Pit had the pleasure (or displeasure) of meeting in his life Palutena was perfect to him. Everything she did, she did out of the kindness of her heart for the people she cared about. The Centurions, Pit, the Angels, and Humanity themselves.

Pit knew she listened to every prayer, every request and everything humanity asked of her. That was why...

That was why...

**_T̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶w̶h̶y̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶r̶o̶u̶n̶d̶!̶_**

Palutena's time was always taken up by Humanities problems! She was always so busy-too busy with them to do anything else! Almost all her free time was taken up by them and some Humans still thought it wasn't enough?! Even worse they had the nerve to call her a heartless monster even after all she'd done for them?!

It wasn't fair! None of this was fair!

None of this ever escaped beyond Pit's thoughts, instead all his feelings boiled to the surface in the form of quiet sniffling.

The people around him started whispering with each other. Many of them wondering where exactly this kids parents were. The Tall Man decided to get closer to try and help the child out once again, even if he did have some sort of odd vendetta against him.

He only got a single step closer before Pit snapped his head up to look at him, his eyes full of fear. "I-I'm sorry...Lady-the Goddess of Light she...works so hard so you shouldn't...You can't-"

Pit was still looking at the Tall Man in front of him when an unfamiliar voice yelled out something that made his blood boil.

"The goddess?! Work hard?! Oh please, that's a lie if I've ever heard one!"

He held down his hands at his side, resisting all his urges to move from the spot he was standing in. It was his duty to protect humanity just like Lady Palutena and there was no way he was going to get into a fight with one if he could help it.

He just wanted to know why. Why the Humans thought of Palutena as a monster.

The Tall Man in front of him gave a loud sigh, almost like he recognized the loud voice that just yelled. "Now isn't the time, let's just-" Pit saw an unfamiliar hand grab the man's shoulder and forcibly turn him around. Pit curiously peeked his head to look past the Tall Man. The hand that grabbed him belonged to a much older looking man.

"Hey lets-" the Tall Man began to say, only to be cut off when the Older Man pushed him aside and walked up to Pit. The Older Man was almost as tall as Magnus, but not nearly as strong looking. He still looked capable of putting up a good fight though. And by the way he was looking at Pit that fight would be with him.

"Don't get in a fight with a kid! What are you doing?!" the Tall Man jumped to Pit's defense. By the sound of his tone this wasn't something unusual for the Older Man to do.

"Mind your own business I'm not gonna get into a 'fight' fight with him, just set them straight." the Older Man looked down at Pit with a scowl. Pit looked right back, his eyes were blinking fast to try and dry out his tears as quick as he could.

"Who do you think you are coming up to us and asking us why we're calling the goddess what she is?"

"I-"

"After what she's done to us, she deserves to be called worse!"

Even worse than a heartless monster? Was there even such a thing?

"You're wrong!" Pit yelled back. The Older Man laughed and shook his head, but said nothing back. The people around him were still pleading with him to give it a rest and to leave Pit alone.

By now the argument had attracted a crowd around the group. With some curious what the source of the yelling could be.

Pit held his hands together and looked down at the almost ruined flowers, he was nervous. He didn't want the Human to escalate anything further and try to fight him. The possibility was slim and next to non-existent but, he couldn't just stand here and let him talk that way about Lady Palutena. "The Goddess isn't a heartless monster! Or anything worse! She's kind and she'll do anything for Humanity!"

"Then why slaughter us for three years?!"

Pit gasped and looked away. What was he supposed to say that? A regular Human wouldn't and shouldn't know about the Chaos Kin, there was no way for him to tell the truth.

The truth that he desperately wanted to tell.

"I lost the people I love..." the Older Man told him. For a second Pit wondered if maybe, he had something to do with that. Probably.

Pit's eyes widened in realization. If that was the case, then he was to blame for all this. Not Lady Palutena. He could tell them that. Tell them that the Angel was to blame, not the Goddess.

Pit looked back up to face the Older Man, ready to tell him what Pit knew was the truth, "You can't blame Lady Palutena because-"

Before Pit could explain any further, the Older Man reached his breaking point. "Can't blame her?! She and that winged monster are the only people to blame!" he yelled out, pulling his hand back. Pit froze as he heard the voices around him cry out to try and stop the Older Man from doing anything drastic.

Pit was so focused he forgot he could quickly move out of the way. Instead he was pushed down by the Older Man's hand as he pushed him down.

"Ahh!" Pit felt himself hit the ground, the flowers he was still holding onto scattered all over the ground. "Oh no...!" his concern for Lady Palutena's future present outweighed any concern he should have had for his own safety, as he quickly began to gather any flowers he could from the ground. The argument he was just in was pushed to the very back of his mind.

"N-No way..." a voice behind him said. Pit recognized it as the voice of the man from earlier. The nicer one, but not by much considering what he said about Lady Palutena. Pit paid it no mind and continued to gather the fallen flowers in his hands.

Then his hand brushed against his laurel crown, lying on the ground among the flowers.

Pit froze.

They could see his wings. They could see his wings. They knew who he was.

The Angel who was responsible for everyone's suffering for three years straight was right in front of them.

Pit tightly clutched the bouquet of flowers he picked up. As if they could save him from the hole he dug himself into. He didn't dare look at any human around him, instead he looked at the flowers. The beautiful flowers that Lady Palutena was going to love.

Pit could see her smiling face already. _'It'll all be alright, Pit'_ she told him, her voice as gentle and soft as ever.

He laughed, his white wings flapping along with his laugh. Maybe now he could explain himself. Now that his disguise was off, he could tell the Humans the truth, about everything.

"It'll all be alright, Pit." he said again. Pit still didn't dare look at the crowd around him.

The seconds dragged on. Almost as if time itself came to a screeching halt. No Human was brave enough to take a breath or even move. The murderous white winged angel stood before them. Their disguise as a human was gone, a human whose Goddess was just called a heartless monster...

A sudden loud scream signaled the start of an explosion of chaos.

The humans who gathered to see what the commotion was about suddenly found themselves in a panic to try and to get away from the monstrous angel. Parents grabbed their children and pushed past each other desperate to save themselves and their families. The Older Man that Pit had been arguing with disappeared. Since he was one of the first people to see Pit for what he really was, he was sure that the angel would no doubt try and hunt him down firs

"W-Wait! Please! Everyone please stop!" Pit held out his hand in a vain attempt to gain control of the situation, his other hand clutched onto his ruined bouquet like his life depended on it. All around him people cried and begged him to not kill anyone. "I-I'm not going to-! I don't want to! Please just listen to-!"

Before Pit could try to explain himself or start apologizing, one Human in the crowd found the foolish courage in them to defend themselves. Picking up a sizable rock, the Human took aim at the angel, gathering their courage to yell out at them to get their attention.

_**"Look out! In front of you!"**_

The sound of someone's voice in the distance confused Pit enough to freeze him in place.

The crowd of panicking people melted away before his eyes, giving way instead to a mysterious dark backdrop full of shining lights. Pit looked closely in front of him. Some of the bigger lights were dancing around him and occasionally flashing. He felt there was something big behind him that wasn't supposed to be there.

Where was he? Was he really here? If he wasn't then who was here?

Pit held out his hand to see a Silver Bow in it. Ha ha, that wasn't right.

Pit could see himself floating in darkness, surrounded by lights. That was him, but at the same time it wasn't him. Wherever this not-Pit was Pit wanted to be in his place instead of where he just was.

Pit grasped onto the image of himself in the darkness and held on to it. He pulled it closer and closer. He felt the other Pit fight back, as he pulled himself away from him. Pit begged him to stop.

'_Please...Take me with you!'_

As the crowd slowly started to fade back into view Pit grew more desperate. He didn't want to go back, he wanted to go with the other Pit. He was terrified, Pit couldn't remember being in the middle of anything as chaotic as this for the longest time. He could feel the other Pit grow as tense as him as Pit gave one final pull.

'_Please let me be you!'_

**_'Pit...?'_**

At the exact moment, the Human who decided to attack the angel hit their target. It was a direct hit to the eye.

At the same time Palutena broke her way through the crowd.

Without so much as a cry or a gasp, Pit fell back and landed on his side. The pathetic remains of his bouquet he was holding onto scattered all around him.

The few humans who remained stopped in their tracks and gasped, some of them even deciding to get closer to the fallen angel. The Human took a step back, surprised in themselves that they managed to do what they did.

There was no time to think about what to do next before a bright flash of light illuminated in front of the angel.

"_**That's enough!**_"

* * *

**-you act as though payback makes you a noble man, is that a fact?-**

A bright flash of light tore through the town. Even a traveling boat near the Seaside Town noticed the bright flash. If no one knew any better they would assume the town was just wiped off the map by form of divine punishment from the Goddess of Light herself.

This...was only partially true.

The Goddess of Light was the source of the bright flash, but the town and its inhabitants were still very much perfectly alive and well. Not one Human had to cover their eyes from the brightness because the light was as harmless as a light breeze of air.

That wasn't to say there weren't some Humans that instinctually covered their eyes, but those were mostly Humans closer to where the blast of light originated from.

The exact spot where the dreaded angel was now laying. Or at least, close to it. Just a few feet in front of them.

The Humans who were brave enough to look at what they thought would vaporize them just seconds ago did not see the angel like they expected. Or like they hoped.

Instead standing in front of the fallen angel on the ground was Palutena, the Goddess of Light.

She looked just as the stories and hymns described her, yet completely different at the same time. Her piercing stare was accurate to how her wrath was described, and her flowing dress was as beautiful and covered in ornament as statues depicted her.

And yet, no Human in the town was fully convinced that what they were seeing was real.

The halo above her head was a dead giveaway to her true identity. It was a symbol that all Humans knew well by now.

How could the actual Goddess of Light be standing in the their town right now? Even worse, why would she be here, what heinous crime had any of them committed, if any? Or was she back to her old ways of those terrifying three years?

No Human in the crowd dared to say anything. All eyes were locked on the Goddess of Light who stood before them seemingly judging their every move, or lack thereof. For the first time that night the town was silent.

Save for the pained groans of the angel behind the Goddess of Light.

Palutena gasped, along with entirety of about fifty or so Humans alongside her. She shook her head, reminding herself that her cover was blown. It was something that Palutena wanted to avoid doing at all costs. Gods were never meant to interact with humanity and yet here she was in front of the largest crowd of Humans that could possibly exist in one place at once.

Palutena silently chuckled, if only Zeus could see where she was now. He would lose his head. He might have even called her worse than Medusa if he knew what she was about to do.

"I said that's enough. Please."

Palutena looked around and meet the eyes of the Humans that surrounded her. Most were still stricken with fear, but there a few among them that looked confused and she couldnt blame them for either reaction. It probably wasn't every day a Goddess spoke to them, let alone asked something from them instead of the other way around. Like how it was supposed to be.

"What...What do you mean Goddess Palutena?" a voice from the crowd asked. Though Palutena could not see the owner of the voice, she knew that the person who asked was the Candid Shopkeeper from earlier. Did she recognize her from earlier? Probably not, thought Palutena, her costume was foolproof after all.

The shopkeeper's question stirred up the already tense crowd as murmurs and accusations started to rise up. Before anything could escalate any farther however, Magnus and Gaol pushed through the crowd themselves, shoving their way past more than a couple of confused people.

Both mercenaries had a million questions for Palutena, but none of them made it out of their mouths before a stare from Palutena silenced them. "Please..." she asked again, but this wasn't directed at the crowd of Humans. This plea was directed to Magnus and Gaol.

"Goddess-?" Gaol managed to ask, before being cut off by another groan from Pit. Palutena frowned when she saw a couple of humans raise their makeshift weapons in response. The Humans probably didn't notice her do that. Whatever the case, Gaol and Magnus got the message and went to check on and take Pit away from the crowd of people that wanted him dead.

"Hey, Magnus?" Gaol whispered

"What?" Magnus knelt down on one knee to check on Pit. He knew an attack from a human wasn't enough to finish off the Angel considering what Magnus knew about him, but there was bound to be some sort of injury. Magnus braced for the worse. It was a good thing he already experienced the worse at one point.

Gaol remained standing and looked around them to see the eyes of a hundred or so people staring right at her. "People are staring, aren't they?" she asked, despite already knowing the answer.

"What do you expect them to do?"

"Mind their business maybe?"

After checking over the obvious wound made by the Human's attack Magnus made the decision to tend to it away from the prying eyes of the crowd around them. He knew first hand that a worked up group of people was liable to explode at any time so it would be best to get the most vulnerable of them away from the action as quick as they could.

"Gaol, can you help me carry Angelface out of here?" Magnus didn't doubt he wasn't strong enough to carry Pit on his own, but he was worried he would break something while trying to pick him up and then pick himself up from the ground afterwards. He'd also experienced the worse of that too, at various points.

As carefully as he could, while minding Pit's wings Magnus lifted him up from the ground earning him a loud whine from Pit. It would seem that Pit wasn't as out of as either of them thought since right after that, he threw a weak punch towards Magnus almost causing the mercenary to fall backwards. He was saved by Gaol's quick reflexes to keep him balanced. "I know Pit, I know." he whispered, careful to not let anyone around him hear him.

Magnus was more than familiar with what was going on. Pit was hurt and the instincts that were left were telling Pit he was in danger and he needed to fight back. "Just bear with it for a little bit, okay Angelface?" Pit gave no answer, as Magnus expected. He sighed then as gently as he could he handed off Pit to Gaol, who easily carried the Angel in her arms.

"Come on Gaol."

"Wha-? Where are we even going to go?"

"Anywhere but here." Magnus answered.

Gaol didn't know exactly where she and Magnus were meant to go, but if any human were smart, they probably wouldn't be followed. "Okay, I think I know where we can head." Gaol turned towards the entrance of the town. The hill with the old forgotten temple on it was a good a hiding spot as any.

The two mercenaries exchanged no words after this, instead they both cut their way through the crowd that was more than happy to let them through and headed towards the safety of the old temple. Magnus hoped that his quick prayer would be enough to reach Palutena's ears. _'Good luck out there Goddess. We'll take care of Pit, just come back soon because I think you know I'm no good at this kind of stuff.' _

Palutena let herself relax a little, knowing that Pit was out of harm's way and safe with Magnus and Gaol. Tensions were still plenty high though, with what being surrounded with people that were a mix of deathly afraid of and furious at her.

Palutena was alone this time, there was no one to back her up or fight any battles for her. It just her and the Humans she watched over every single day of her life.

No Human dared to say a word. Parents guided their children behind them, others issued a silent prayer for the Goddess to spare them and some _still_ couldn't believe that what they were staring at was the Goddess of Light.

Palutena took in a deep breath, there were so many things she wanted to tell them she didn't know where to begin. And not just this group of Humans, to all of Humanity.

She wanted to apologize for her failure to protect them. She wished she could let them know how hard it really was to fight to make sure they could live peaceful lives. Palutena let out a slow breath and brought her hands up to her necklace, "My Humans...I've heard your prayers and I..." A Tall Man hugged his daughter to protect her from the Goddess' wrath, he fully intended to take the full force of the attack himself. Palutena knew his efforts would have been wasted if she was actually attacking, and he must have known that too. If his prayer was any indication.

But she wasn't going to attack. Never again.

"...I'm sorry."

A collection of gasps echoed from the crowd around her. She could feel the crowd's skepticism over her apology, of course years of suffering at her hand was never going to be fixed with a simple apology and Palutena knew this. But she was far from done talking.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for failing to protect you and for causing you all so much pain and loss and I'm in no position to ask something of you all but...please, I'm begging you all..." Palutena could feel the anger from the Humans slowly rising to the surface, it was awfully bold of her to ask them a favor after everything she did.

"Please leave the Angel out of this." Palutena's stern voice tore through the crowd, most stepped back in fear at the Goddess' orders. Despite them being nothing more than a scared mother begging for the safety of her son's life. "Please!" Palutena bowed down and she found herself staring at the ground. A couple of wet spots appeared under her.

Ah, she was crying. That was expected. "Pit..." she used Pit's name, but she couldn't help using it even if she tried. "Pit isn't at fault! He was following _my_ orders. He tried to stop me! He tried to fight me but in the end he couldn't! And he was forced to carry out my orders! He's not at fault here!" every word she said was in one way or another a lie and a truth.

The Chaos Kin used her body to give Pit orders to fly to a nearby town and as always Pit happily agreed. When it ordered him to take the life of a defenseless human, Pit broke down and apologized to the Chaos Kin about disobeying its orders. Pit never meant to harm the human and neither did Palutena.

The difference between the two of them right now was that Pit wasn't awake to tell the Humans that Palutena wasn't at fault.

"So please, don't direct your hatred or fear towards Pit." Palutena brought her head up and looked directly at the Human she _knew_ attacked Pit. She knew everything about him, his name and what he lost in the Chaos Kin's attack. She could hardly blame him for reacting the way he did. "I'm to blame here. Not him."

Pit attacked the Lunar Sanctum on her orders.

"If there is anyone you need to direct your fear and anger to, direct it to me. He has nothing to do with any of this. I, the Goddess of Light take full responsibility for whatever I've done and I'll make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. You have my word." Her word might not have meant a lot at this point, but she was telling the truth and for the first time since the end of the war with Hades, Palutena finally knew what she was meant to do.

She was Humanity's protector and what remained of their hope. Whatever happened between them and the Chaos Kin wasn't something that could be fixed easily with a few miracles but no matter how long it took she would earn their trust back.

And even if she never did, she was content knowing that they were safe and they would carry on.

Prayers of all sorts began rushing in now. Most humans seemed to agree with her mostly on the basis that if they didn't they would be punished, which wasn't right at all. There were others that thanked her for not doing anything worse and some yelling at her asking what gave her the right to ask such a request,

Nothing ever gave Palutena the idea that this would be easy, but it would have been nice in some perfect world that it was as easy as that.

While trying to think of anything else she could say her eye caught the Butcher and her children huddling together for safety.

Palutena gasped, trying not to trip over her next words, "Blame me! I'm to blame right now, not Pit! He had no choice!" and neither did she.

Just like a parent and a child, Pit was her responsibly and no matter what he thought she was not Pit's responsibility. If she wasn't his parent, then she could have be compared to a sister or any other sort of caretaker.

At this point Palutena could not stop the words from spilling out of her mouth, "Its my fault! You can't be angry at him he can't handle it and I know he can't!" she was begging at this point and she knew it

"Please...I can't lose him. Not after everything...not after everything I've done to him..." Palutena's hand flew to cover her mouth.

She said too much, and she knew it.

In a flash of light quicker than the first, Palutena made her exit. There were some Humans that reached out to her and told her to wait, whether it was out of anger or actual concern she couldn't tell but she wasn't going to listen. Palutena was already long gone before any Human could even try and stop her.

The center of the crowd was empty. The only evidence that anything happened was already blowing away in the evening wind. Stray flowers petals blew around the stunned crowd as they looked at one another trying to find an answer in each other of what to do next.

It was far too late for panic, the Goddess had already come and left. Whatever happened next was going to happen whether they wanted to or not.

One thing was clear, however. The festival was over.

And it was time to go home.

* * *

**-party's over -**

When Palutena next opened her eyes, she was inside one of her and Medusa's old joined temples.

Not one of the oldest ones, but it was definitely catching up in age to the much older ones. It was also growing almost as dirty and dusty as the others. Palutena couldn't blame the humans for not keeping her temples of worship clean. There were so many and cleaning a temple, regardless of size, was hard work! She would know.

Palutena couldn't help but giggle, despite everything.

"Ey', Goddess? Are you in here I saw a flash of light and-" Gaol peeked her head in through the entrance of the temple, "Oh. There you are."

Standing in the middle of the unkempt temple was the Goddess of Light herself, among the cobwebs and dust bunnies lining the temple. Gaol might have seen something really deep about this if she cared enough about that. Or if there was time for any of that.

Gaol took note of Palutena's red and puffy eyes, as if she just bawled her eyes out just seconds ago. "Are you okay?" she couldn't see a Goddess of any kind actually weeping in front of mortals like herself, but every second she spent with Palutena and Pit was like experiencing an eye-opening event after the other.

After Gaol asked about Palutena, she responded by quickly rubbed her eyes to let out any remaining tears she was still holding in. Gaol took note of how when she did that, Palutena still didn't turn away from her.

"If you're worried about Pit seeing you like that, you'll be fine. The poor guy is still fast asleep."

Palutena gasped and turned to Gaol, even with the little light emitting from Palutena's halo Gaol could clearly see the tears streaming down her face. "Is-Is he...?"

"H-He's fine!" Gaol was sure Palutena would know if Pit was mortally injured or not, but it couldn't hurt to confirm it, "Magnus is watching over him outside." she pointed behind her and before Gaol could say anything else Palutena was already pushing herself past her.

Normally Gaol would give whoever pushed her a piece of her mind, but that could wait another day.

Gaol followed Palutena outside and around the temple to a small orchard in front. It was Gaol's plan to hide among the trees in case they had anyone dumb enough try to follow them out of the town. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone that tried, not that they would be able to keep up with either of them with how fast they ran out of there.

Palutena ran to where she could sense Pit was. It was rude to leave Gaol behind without so much as a 'thank you' but she was sure Gaol follow her, and Palutena would make sure to thank both Humans for their help once she could see Pit was safe.

Palutena couldn't run past the few trees that stood in between her and Pit fast enough.

"Pit!" Palutena yelled, she knew she shouldn't have but by the time she considered that she would wake Pit up she already sobbed out his name. Magnus looked up at her, he looked tired but as soon as he looked up to see Palutena his eyes widened in shock. Or maybe it was worry.

It was just as Gaol said, Magnus was sitting with Pit and still carrying him in his arms like Palutena saw him do back at the town.

Just like Palutena, Pit's human disguise was gone. On top of that, Magnus and Gaol also must have scrambled for some way to bandage up Pit's wound. Palutena figured that Gaol (considering Magnus had his hands full with carrying Pit by now) must have taken Pit's scarf and wrapped it around Pit's face to protect his injury from getting any worse or...

Palutena gulped, Pit couldn't have been hurt so bad he was actually bleeding. Could he? The faint red stains on the scarf proved her otherwise. Palutena bit her lip and stepped back, only stopping when Magnus held out his hand to stop her, clearly noticing her distress.

"Hey, hey! He's fine." magnus stated bluntly, he felt as if he were almost talking to Pit himself with how straightforward he had to be, "Whatever hit him, it hit him pretty hard." the less of the gritty details Magnus shared with the Goddess the better. It wasn't by far the worst injury he'd seen in his life, but there really was no such thing as a nice injury.

"If it makes you feel any better, Gaol wrapped up the injury herself and believe me she knows what she's doing." Magnus gently adjusted the Angel in his arms so Palutena could get a better look at Gaol's expertly done makeshift first aid. When Palutena gasped and looked away Magnus realized he made a mistake. Its not like he would have enjoyed seeing someone he cared about so much in that state either.

He was already having enough trouble as it was. Palutena was still looking away, whatever thoughts were running through her head were probably something Magnus would be familiar with. Or maybe they would be too complicated for his human mind, who knows?

Instead of calling out to the Goddess he turned his attention back to Pit.

He was still unconscious, and it was anyone's guess when he would wake up, or what would happen when he woke up. His breathing was slow but consistent which wasn't a large cause for alarm. And aside from a few sudden movements from Pit to try and scratch at the scarf wrapped around his head, there wasn't any other sorts of movements from him.

Neither him, Gaol, or maybe even Palutena were aware of what happened when Pit ran off by himself.

Conveniently while all three of them were able to see the exact moment when Pit hit the ground, none of them saw what did it. Magnus still wasn't sure who or what injured Pit to this extent, but when he first decided to carry him off to safety Magnus was fairly confident that Pit would physically be fine. He'd seen Pit take harder hits during the few times he'd seen him fight.

At first, Magnus felt confident that he could handle it. However, as soon as he got a good look at Pit, his hands couldn't steady themselves. He was shaking too much.

There was just something about this, how helpless Magnus felt and how he could have done something to prevent this. How still Pit was.

Magnus knew exactly what was wrong, but none of that mattered now. Not right now.

A steady hand on his shoulder snapped him back into reality. Gaol knelt down next to him and gently took the scarf from his hands. "Don't worry, I got this." she'd said, then as gently as she could she began to wrap around Pit's scarf around his head, covering his large wound. "Uh...not my best work, but I think its good enough for now. Don't you think?" Gaol gave the scarf one last tug to tighten it around Pit's head before she tried to tie it all up.

At the time Magnus could have sworn Pit's other eye opened up and immediately closed once it saw him.

A simple question brought Magnus back into the present, "Hey Magnus?"

Gaol playfully tapped his head and Magnus gave her a scowl. "Glad you're holding up, I was worried about you for a second." it wasn't surprising that Gaol was worried, with her being one of the few people that knew about his secret.

"You...are okay right?"

"Well, my arms are tired. Other than that, I'm just peachy."

Magnus' casual answer shocked Gaol into a few seconds of silence. Before Gaol could say anything back the silence was broken when Palutena suddenly walked up to them and knelt down in front of Magnus. Both Magnus and Gaol's first concerns were that Palutena's pure white dress would be ruined by the dirt because of that, but it must not have mattered much to her.

Of course it didn't matter to her.

"Pit...?" Palutena hovered her hands over Pit's injured eye. For a second Magnus assumed she was using her powers to heal him, but by the tears running down Palutena's face again that couldn't have been the case. "I never meant for this to happen...This was never supposed to happen again." Palutena pulled her arm away and gripped her dress hard enough that her knuckles turned pale, "I swore I would never let Pit get hurt like this ever again...Not for me. Never for me."

Magnus and Gaol exchanged glances. The problems of the divine were an entire whole world away from them, they had their doubts Palutena would bother telling them about what she was talking about.

Or maybe she would, it wouldn't be the first time the Goddess surprised them.

"Magnus? Gaol?" Palutena called out to them.

"Y-Yeah?" Magnus answered back. Gaol spoke just a few seconds later, "...Yes?"

Palutena held out her hands in front of Magnus, and Magnus immediately understood. "Right..." Magnus carefully moved Pit in front of him, earning another tired groan from the Angel who had grown comfortable laying in Magnus' arms.

Magnus wanted to ask Palutena if she would be alright carrying Pit , but that was a stupid question. Pit would be far better off with her than he would with him and Gaol.

Magnus gently dropped Pit into Palutena's arms and on cue Pit pulled himself closer to her, wrapping his wings around himself.

With his hands now free Magnus pushed himself off the ground, looking from above he could even see that Pit's face looked a lot more relaxed than when he was holding him. "Hmph, someone seems a lot comfier now." it made sense that Pit felt safer with his Goddess than with him, or with Gaol. Pit of course said nothing, only a twitch of his wings providing evidence that he could have heard Magnus.

Palutena softly smiled and adjusted Pit in her arms to make him easier to carry. Despite how it looked he was actually quite heavy, but it wasn't anything Palutena couldnt handle. Magnus and Gaol saw faint signs of her struggling, but before they could offer any sort of help the Goddess was already back on her feet courtesy of her telepathic abilities.

"I guess you'll be going now?" Magnus asked, scratching his head. There was no reason for the Goddess and the Angel to stay any longer than they needed to. Palutena probably needed to get Pit to a doctor to get him checked or something.

...Did the Gods have doctors? Magnus was tempted to ask but there was a time and a place, and this was neither.

Palutena slowly nodded and her staff appeared behind her in a flash of light, floating beside her. "I..." she began to say before cutting herself off and looking at the mercenaries in front of her.

How could she begin to thank them for their help, would a simple thank you be enough? She wouldn't get in trouble if she granted a couple of Humans a little extra blessings, would she? Did Magnus and Gaol want that?

"T-Thank you! Magnus and Gaol, thank you so much for your help. I-If there's anything you need from me I can do a lot but I don't really know what to..." Palutena nervously looked back and forth between the Humans trying to read their expressions as a clue to what she should say next. This didn't help much. Before Palutena could say anything more Magnus and Gaol turned to her with smiles on their faces, it was kind of surprising seeing such genuine smiles from them but Palutena kept that to herself.

Gaol grinned and feigned a hard thinking pose, "Hmm! Normally there's a price to our services but since it kind of is your birthday consider this my birthday present to you Goddess!" Magnus shook his head but his smile contradicted his body language. "Guess you're getting a freebie from me too. And uh...Happy birthday. I guess?"

Palutena held in a laugh, afraid that doing so would disturb Pit. Today was nowhere near her actual birthday, but Palutena also kept that to herself.

"Thank you." for the first time that night relief washed over Palutena. There was hope, at least some, that everything would be alright. Magnus and Gaol were a pair of odd humans. One was the most likely the strongest Human on earth and the other an Ex-Dark Lord just as strong as Magnus, but even so, if she could be on the same level as them maybe Gods and Humans had more in common than anyone thought.

_'Just like us Gods wouldn't you say?'_ maybe somehow her pleas could break through to the Humans.

A small breeze hit her face and she looked down in surprise, Pit was flapping his wings. Was he dreaming about flying? Palutena could only hope so. His face didn't look like he was dreaming of anything else.

Magnus stepped closer to see if something was wrong with Pit, only stepping back when Pit became still again. "Just take care of Pit up there, all right?" it was a no brainer that Palutena would take care of him, but Magnus still felt the need to say this. That Angel had really grown on him. Tonight was just more proof that he really did care more than he admitted to.

"And tell him Gaol said hi!" Gaol smiled and pointed at herself, "Don't forget to tell him Magnus says hi too. Just say it like you're way older than me."

"Gaol. We are the same age."

Gaol shrugged off Magnus' remark and continued to laugh at her own joke.

"Will do." Palutena said in a hushed tone, trying to nicely remind both mercenaries to try and keep their voices down for now.

With one last smile and a wave of her staff in a slight goodbye motion, a beam of light began to surround Palutena and Pit. Just like before the light wasn't painful to look at and standing next to it filled Magnus and Gaol with something that could be best described as _'a warm and fuzzy feeling._' It could have been from the light or the happiness they felt at having been able to help.

"See you around Goddess." Magnus said as the image of Palutena and Pit faded away from their sight.

Gaol jumped in with her own goodbye, "Next time you visit maybe we can go to the mountain hot springs! They're plenty isolated if you need any more convincing."

Even as the light faded around them, they could hear Palutena's voice echo around them, "I think Pit would like that, thank you."

After that, Magnus and Gaol collapsed in exhaustion right where they were standing. "Hey Magnus, any chance you could carry me home?" Gaol whined, today had been a busy day for them both, even before Palutena and Pit walked into their schedule.

Magnus glared at her and rolled his eyes. "Gaol, you couldn't pay me to carry you home."

* * *

**\- a well earned respite-**

Back in Skyworld, a Centurion Guard happily snored away on the stairway to Palutena's temple. Without Palutena the Centurions, including her personal guard, took it upon themselves to get so bored out of their minds they decided to take naps.

Then a sudden beam of light woke up the Centurion Guard from their long nap as they very quickly resumed their patrol around Skyworld, hoping that Lady Palutena wouldn't notice them slacking on the job.

The light faded and revealed that Pit and Palutena were back in Skyworld, safe and sound. "We're home, Pit." Palutena softly said, suspecting the Angel to still be fast asleep. Pit stirred in her arms, a slight whine escaping his mouth.

The scarf around his injury was starting to come loose.

Palutena was a fairly old goddess and as a result she'd seen her fair share of injuries, far too many if you asked her. Seeing them on Pit however, was something she was never prepared to see. Especially since she could always rely on Skyworld's hot springs to heal them away. Even without hot springs her magic was always there to heal away the smallest cut.

This time was different.

If she risked healing the injury herself or lowering Pit into a hot spring she would risk Pit waking up from his sleep and the last thing he would remember was being in the middle of a crowd that were deathly afraid of him while he cried out to them that they were wrong. The situation he last remembered was different than waking up after being finished in a battle, it was sad for her to say that Pit was used to doing that by now.

Palutena didn't want to risk having Pit violently and suddenly wake up, instead she preferred him to wake up on his own. Whether or not this was the right decision to make, Palutena would find out once Pit awoke.

Palutena noticed Pit's face twist in discomfort. Her grip on him was too tight it seemed.

With another quick warp, as to not risk anything happening if she decided to walk, Palutena found herself standing in the middle of Pit's room.

Palutena gently set Pit down on his own hammock. She considered letting him rest on an actual bed in one of the many guest rooms, but she once again assumed that Pit would prefer to wake up in his own room rather than a fairly unfamiliar guest room.

She hoped she wouldn't come to regret her decisions.

Without thinking, Palutena brushed away a lock of Pit's hair that was covering his injury

There was another groan of discomfort from Pit. Palutena looked down to see him roll onto the opposite side Palutena set him on. Whatever dreams were plaguing Pit's mind, Palutena was not brave enough to look at and there was no way Pit would tell her about them later. Neither he or Palutena ever divulged their nightmares to each other, even when they both clearly knew the other had one.

So, it was best for Palutena to leave Pit alone for the moment. Palutena needed her rest now too. It had been a long day for the both of them.

With one last sigh, Palutena took another look at Pit. He looked the same as he did since the last time she looked a few seconds ago. No matter how much she wanted to she couldn't just stay here overnight and watch over him like she'd done so many times back when he was younger. Those days were in the past, and they would stay there where they belonged.

Palutena waited until his chest rose and fell one last time until she was comfortable leaving him alone.

Palutena carefully stepped over some of Pit's toys. Though Pit's room was a mess, Palutena made a mental note to help Pit clean it up tomorrow. That way they could talk. Yeah, that would work. After another last look at Pit and making sure to order the night guard to make frequent checkups on Pit, Palutena was finally ready to make her leave.

'_It took you long enough_.' Palutena's eyes began to droop as her hand hovered over the door to Pit's room. She'd overstayed her welcome.

"I could hear them. If I tried really hard..." a weak voice said, "What they said about me. What they prayed to you about...about me."

For the first time in ages the light of the world flickered.

"It didn't...b-bother me. I saved everyone. I don't mind. As long as I can serve Lady Palutena my life has meaning..."

Palutena's gaze was frozen on the door. A million thoughts were running through her head, but at the same time there was no thought she could hold onto. Was it true? Did Pit hear _**everything**_ the humans thought about him? That shouldn't have been possible.

"But...But when I heard what they said about you..." Pit paused, a sob struggled to escape his throat, "I got mad."

The memories of the screaming crowd were still fresh in Palutena's mind. Whatever Pit did to make the crowd have the reaction it did must have been something...she couldn't begin to imagine Pit of all people intentionally hurting humans. Had he said something else to them?

What had Pit done?

Unwilling to hear anymore without looking at him, Palutena turned around to see that Pit was still lying on his hammock. However, instead of facing away from her like Palutena left him, he'd turned around to face her. His uninjured eye was unfocused, slowly looking from one side of the room to the other. "Pit!?" Palutena ran to his side, fearing that there was something else wrong with him.

Even though Palutena was now right in front of him, Pit looked as if he wasn't even aware Palutena was in the room. Which was worrying since he was the one who started talking to her in the first place. "Pit? Pit, are you okay?" that was a stupid question, Palutena knew that but what else was she supposed to ask? She gently placed a hand on his forehead. Luckily there was no sign of a fever but his 'bandage' was coming undone again.

Morning could not come quick enough.

Palutena tried to adjust the makeshift bandage as best as she could, but her hands were to shaky to be of any real help. She grabbed one of her hands in an attempt to steady it, taking in a slow breath to calm herself down. It worked, for the most part.

As carefully as she could Palutena lifted up Pit's head to loop the scarf around his head again. Palutena wrapped it around once, then twice. When Palutena squeezed the scarf to make sure it was tight enough Pit let out a hiss of pain, his arm slapping Palutena's hands away.

Palutena took a step back, just in case.

_'Just in case what?_' Palutena shook her head. She was being irrational again. Pit was in no shape to do anything, let alone hurt her.

The good news was that Pit's bandage was fine now. There was still a chance it could come lose again in the middle of the night, so Palutena adjusted her earlier orders to her Centurions to check on Pit as well as his bandage.

After hearing the Centurions respond with a hearty "Roger!' Palutena turned her full attention back to Pit.

She almost jumped back when she saw that Pit was now looking right at her. Pit was laying on his side, a hand hovered over his bandage, as if he was checking to see what was there.

"You're not bad Lady Palutena...You're not bad...You're not bad..." Pit whispered before closing his eye and relaxing back into his hammock. Palutena didn't bother getting any closer to see if Pit was fully asleep. The sooner she left the better it would be. For the both of them.

Once again Palutena froze at the door the room. The words Pit said to her rang in her head.

Palutena wasnt bad. Not to Pit.

That was all that mattered. As long as Pit and even Pittoo believed in her, she didn't need anyone else. The rest of the world could turn against her for all she cared. So long as it turned against her and only her. She was the Goddess of Light. And as long as she was, she would protect Humanity and her Angels.

Palutena smiled, tears in her eyes. "Thank you, Pit."

She pushed the door open and turned to head to her own room. She was more than ready for her favorite part of the festival of the Goddess of Light. The part where she passed out for ten hours after partying all night.

* * *

**-****i had a dream where i took you by the throat****-**

Now alone in his room Pit let out a hitched breath, wrapping his blanket tight around himself.

"I am."


End file.
